January, 2000

IN THIS ISSUE . . . . .  

• What is the Organic Farming Listserve?
• Florida Organic Certifying Agencies
• Florida Organic Food Advisory Council
• Organic Grove Care Services
• Organic Consulting
• Organic Materials
• Listing of Florida Organic Growers/Crops
• Mark Your Calendar

        The Organic Farming Listserve is a way for Florida organic farmers and others interested in organic farming to communicate with each other, share information and send/receive announcements of general interest. Essentially it is an email list in which all messages to the listserve address are sent to everyone who has indicated they wish to be added to the list. Anyone can add/delete themselves to the list and any member of the list can post messages to the list for everyone else to read.
        Hopefully, this listserve can improve statewide communication about organic farming questions, problems and resources. Give it a try!

How do I subscribe?

To subscribe to the listserve, you must have an email account and access to electronic mail.

1) Log in to your email account and invoke mail.
2) To subscribe to the Organic Farming Listserve mailing list, send an email message to: mailserv@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu
3) Type the following message as the message text: sub organic
4) Send the mail message.
5) You will receive an email confirmation of your subscription to the list like this:

The address: jjfn@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU has been added to the organic mailing list by Jim Ferguson

6) To send a message to the listserve, the address is organic@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu
7) To remove your email address name from the organic listserve, send the following command:
"unsub organic" to mailserv@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu

Organic Certifying Agents

      The Florida Department of Agriculture licenses agencies ($500.00/year) to act as Organic Certifying Agents after review by the Organic Food Advisory Council. This list is maintained by the Bureau of Compliance Monitoring (Contact Van Madden; (850)487-3863; As of 11/8/99 only two agencies were licensed, down from six in previous years.
      The first step in becoming a certified organic grower is to contact one of the below listed agencies for information about certifying fees and certification standards, which usually are sold as a manual. While there may be some difference among the standards of different organic certifying agencies, these standards are generally the same. National Organic standards have been under discussion since the passage of the Organic Farming and Food Bill in 1990, but no definite date has been set for the completion of this process. If you’re certified by one of the below agencies, you will probably also maintain certification when the national standards are approved.

Florida Organic and Consumers, Inc.
POB 12311
Gainesville, Fl 32604
(352)377-6345
fogoffice@aol.com
(FOG) has already certified approximately 115 growers in Florida and several in Mexico and Costa Rico.

Organic Crop Improvement Association
1405 South Detroit Street
Bellefontaine, Ohio 43311
(513) 592-4983
http://www.ocia.on.ca/
As of 11/8/99, OCIA said it had no listing of growers it had certified in Florida.

Oregon Tilth
1860 Hawthorne Avenue NE
Suite 200
Salem, OR  97303
Phone: 503-378-0690
Fax: 503-378-0809
http://www.tilth.org/

Florida Organic Food Advisory Council

The Florida Organic Food Advisory Council is scheduled to meet at 9:00 A. M., Friday, January 28, 2000 at the Division of Plant Industry, 3027 Lake Alfred Road, Winter Haven, Florida 33881-1438.

 Organic Grove Care Services

Arapaho Citrus Management, a full service, commercial citrus grove management business, headquarters in Ft. Pierce, working throughout southern Florida.
Phone: 800-288-8447
Email: pdspyke@arapahocitrus.com

Additional listing can be added by contacting me at JJFN@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Organic Consulting

Agricultural Resource Management
Mike Ziegler
Agricultural Resource Management, Inc.
P. O. Box 993
Vero Beach, Florida 32961-0993
Phone: 561-569-1598
Fax: 561-569-3207
E-mail: zieglersarm@netscape.net

Established in 1975 and operating in Florida, Agricultural Resources Management offers consulting services in sustainable agriculture, organic crop production and processing, and integrated pest management; provides services for transitional and certified farms.

Additional listing can be added by contacting me at JJFN@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Organic Materials

United Agricultural Services
8721 Casper Avenue
Hudson, FL  34667
Phone: 727-861-7710
Toll Free: 800-476-6674
Fax: 727-861-7103
Email: info@uas-cropmaster.com
http://www.uas-cropmaster.com

Manufacturers and suppliers of Organic fertilizers, Liquid Fish Emulsion products, Liquid humates, Sugar based organic chelated Micronutrients, Liquid and soluble seaweed products, Beneficial bacteria and soil fungi

Additional listing can be added by contacting me at JJFN@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Listing of Florida Organic Growers/Crops

I would like to add a listing of Florida Organic Growers and availability of crops. However, listings of organic growers are not readily available from organic certifying agencies for proprietary and other reasons. Let me know if you're interested.

Mark Your Calendar

January 21- 23, 2000. Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG) - the Jekyll Island, Georgia Convention Center.

Saturday, January 29, 2000, 9-12:30 P.M. Urban Farming Workshop 2000: New Ideas for the 21^st Century: A Workshop for Small Farmers, Urban and Market Gardeners -
Seminole County Extension Auditorium, 250 W. County Home Road, Sanford, FL. Talks on growing strawberries, cut flowers, butterfly gardens, organic amendments for field and greenhouse crops; tour of hydroponic production demonstration. $5.00 Registration Fee. Contact Richard Tyson, Seminole County Extension Service, Phone (407) 665-5554, Email: rvt@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu

March 8-15, 2000. Independent Organic Inspectors Association Meeting, Annual Meeting, Florida Organic Growers and Consumers - Future Farmers of America (FFA) Leadership Training Center near Haines City.

April 1, 2000. Small Farm Conference and Trade Show - Volusia County Fair Grounds, Deland, Fl - Free and open to the public. Discussions and demonstrations on beekeeping, organic certification, cut foliage and flowers, plant tissue culture labs, fruit crops for small farms, small scale timber lots, electric and solar fencing, rabbit production and marketing, tropical fish farming, livestock marketing, pasture management, trade show and association meetings. Contact: David Griffis, Phone: 904-822-5778, Email: dtg@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu