Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 A P R I L 6 , 2 0 1 5 GORANSON: Mining nutrients Soil health is at the center of organic farming at Goranson Farm, note own- ers Jan Goranson and her husband Rob Johanson. e farm is known for its potatoes and maple syrup, but produces 60 different crops and grows chickens, pigs and dairy and beef cows. Of the farm's 160 acres, 36 acres are tillable and 20 acres are hay land. Johanson is quick to point to a USDA study saying the nutritional content of U.S. food has decreased an average of 40% since World War II. "It's because of the way it's grown, the poor quality of produce and the pro- cessing that destroys nutrients," he says. Johanson spends a good amount of time attending soil workshops across the country, reading farm magazines and figuring out the best way to add soil nutrients. From the early 1960s through mid-1980s, when Goranson's father ran a conventional potato farm, the soil wasn't rotated well and had no earthworms, but had plenty of bugs and weeds, he says. "It was hard to figure out how to transition to an organic farm. We reduced the chemical inputs and farmed transitional organic for three years," says Goranson. at means using organic practices on a field that still has hundreds of chemical resi- dues from conventional weed killers, fertilizers and other soil additives. "Most industrial chemicals break down after three years," says Johanson. "We've been organic now for 16 years. e earthworms are back and the soil health has evolved." He adds, "Soil is a living piece of the farming we're doing. We feed the soil through crop rotation to grow healthy food that is higher in nutrition." umbing through a recent soil con- ference agenda laying on the kitchen table, next to the calculator and ledger, he rattles of a list of necessities for good soil biology: nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, pH and cation exchange capacity. It's more challenging for organic farmers to get and keep soil healthy, because they cannot use con- ventional chemical enhancements. Goranson, most of her long hair tucked into a woolen hat and wearing three layers of clothing to keep warm, walks her visitor through a storage area in the barn where workers busily box squash and other vegetables, left over from the fall, for the Saturday farmers market. In the adjoining greenhouse, another worker plants onion seeds. "Life was easier with systematic fungicides. ere were huge benefits to using a chemical regime," Goranson says of her father's farm. He grew pota- toes on 80 acres and didn't think her plan to grow organic food was realistic. Goranson had worked in California for an executive search firm after college before returning to the farm when her father was diagnosed with cancer. "We scaled way back when we started farming organic," adds Johanson, who gave up his own farm to join Goranson when they got married. "We have six acres of potatoes, down from the 14 acres when we made the transition to organic in 1996." One of the reasons organic farmers tend to have smaller fields is they need to use crop rotation to assure healthy soil for the next season. "Rotation land takes up crop land," says Johanson. "Half of the farm is out of production in any given year." Each time the farm sells vegetables, it is selling off the minerals they take from the soil, which will need to be replenished the following year by cover crops and green manures, he says. Johanson is considering growing crops with long tap roots, like alfalfa and daikon radishes, which can bring up minerals deeper in the soil that are not normally available to other crops. "When you own your own business, you really need to keep educating yourselves," adds Goranson. One challenge to farmers like Goranson and Johanson is paperwork. Goranson Farm took in gross sales of $535,000 last year and netted $37,000. e farm bought a large piece of machinery and a truck to take goods to farmers' markets. One of Maine's larger organic farms, it employs 15 full- and part-time people at the height of the summer growing season. One-third of gross sales are wholesale to the Portland Food Co-op, Rosemont Market and Bakery and Whole Foods, with the rest through farmers markets, community supported agriculture programs and retail farm stands. e farm pays $1,800 for MOFGA organic certification. Johanson says it's a good value, but it also comes with a lot of paperwork. "We have to create a 50-page document every year that lists everything we grow and the number of row feet planted of each particular crop," he says, adding that he spends too much time doing paperwork rather than working the fields. Both he and Goranson see the certified organic tag as valuable. "Clarity is a big thing in terms of the people who say they grow organic but aren't certified. Certified organic is a valuable tool. Why not be clear?" Goranson says. With their diversified products, Goranson says everything on the farm is optimized, and it is run like a business. "We really do enjoy farming," she adds, "But I'd like not to have to work six days a week in the winter." She says their two sons are interested in returning to the farm, so they want to make it as productive as possible. Her recommendation to farm couples: one person should have another income to bring other money into the farm. "Most successes come when both farmers have part-time jobs," she adds. "We've been farming for 30 years. I don't take anything for granted. It's quiet work, but physically demanding and hot." Looking distantly out the window, past the silhouette of a farm cat, her eyes twinkle when she adds, "You find beauty where you are. You can look out across the fields or look at a head of lettuce." SQUIRE TARBOX: Creative upstart For newer farmers especially, every penny counts, and the certification fees and paperwork can be daunting. "My wife and I live meagerly," says Kyle DePietro, who also has two small children. He leases Squire Tarbox Farm, off the Lower Hell Gate portion of the Sasanoa River, and has about six acres of tillable land, half of which he cultivates. e other half is for rotating cover crops. DePietro, who is scraping dead bees from last year's hives when his visitor arrives, walks across a board over a small stream and toward a hoop house — which despite being unheated protects some vegetables to extend the growing season. He started the farm after his parents in 2003 bought the Squire Tarbox Inn, where his father is a chef, and where he initially tended the inn's gardens. His primary source of sales is farm- ers markets, from which he grossed $100,000 last year, up to 80% of which goes back into the farm. Among his crops are fingerling potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, salad greens, kale, chard, carrots and beats. "I also try to find new, interesting items to grow, like Mexican sour gher- kins, also called mouse melons. It's a unique crop, but it's not the most lucra- tive," he says. He also grows bok choy and tatsoi, which are Chinese crops. For a new organic farmer like DePietro, startup costs were huge. He got a line of credit from Bangor Savings and then from MOFGA to invest $7,000 in a box truck for the farmers markets, $30,000 for a tractor, $7,000 for the hoop house, $2,000 for several smaller hoop houses and another $15,000 each spring for soil amendments, com- post, seed-starting mix, market fees and MOFGA certification. "We built from scratch," says DePietro. "e infrastructure costs were huge." For a small, startup farmer, even $1,000 for MOFGA certification is steep, especially since that payment comes during the expensive spring outlays and the $750 USDA reim- bursement doesn't come until the fall. Still, he says the MOFGA cost and paperwork are worth it. "e paperwork is becoming easier. Staying certified says we do care and we want the public to know we care." Being on a tight budget has stimulated DePietro's creativity. For instance, instead of plunking down $1,000 for a lettuce spinner, he repur- posed an old washing machine drum that was free. Still, he advises new farmers, "Don't be afraid to borrow money to do things right." His longer term dream, as his farm is near the water's edge, is to add oys- ter aquaculture and seaweed as animal feed or food for people. "It's very challenging to have the right infrastructure to do business as a farmer. Efficiency is everything," he says. "On a small farm with dif- ferent products, you need to keep a keen eye on how the process works. Small things can change output. And beyond growing products, you need to be a builder, mechanic, innovator and spokesman for the farm." e spokesman role is one he especially enjoys at farmers' markets, suggesting recipes and telling customers how to use items, especially the more unusual produce. "Sometimes that's what makes the sale," he says. "A carrot is just a carrot until you put a face behind it and a story." L o r i V a l i g r a , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t l v a l i g r a @ m a i n e b i z . b i z It's very challenging to have the right infrastructure to do business as a farmer. Efficiency is everything. — Kyle DePietro, Squire Tarbox Farm

• Cover