Robert Oechsli has been farming at Alpenblick Farm by Carleton Place, on the outskirts of Ottawa, for 43 years. Now surrounded by subdivisions and a golf course, his isn’t a conventional farm — it is an entirely organic operation. In fact, the farm has been organic since 1825, long before organic became a trend.

Multimedia Multimedia: Alpenblick Organic Farm Take a tour of Robert Oechsli's organic farm in Ashton, Ontario.

“In 1972 when I told people I had a farm somebody asked, ‘What do you farm?’ I said I farm livestock, beef, lamb and goats and I am organic. People said, ‘So what is organic?’ I said, 'well we don’t spray, we don’t use fertilizers, we don’t use chemicals, we don’t vaccinate. All our animals that are not being milked, they get no grain whatsoever. The animals that we are milking get organic grain',” he says.

The farm functions as a storefront, selling goods on site, but Oechsli is also a staple at various farmers’ markets in the local area. In addition to organic meat, Oechsli provides organic cheese and cow shares for people who want fresh milk.

 “I don’t own the cow, I have four owners to one cow,” he says.

But for all the farm's success and integration into the local community, Oechsli says government policies ignore operations such as his, providing support only to large-scale farms capable of exporting products.

Favouring big farm

On Oct. 21, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced the government is giving $195,000 to the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA), to enhance the competitiveness of the country's organic farmers in global markets.

“From our perspective, that money that we’re receiving is basically for organic producers to be able to finance expanding their market internationally,” says Julia Bustos, policy and outreach manager at COTA.

A $195,000 investment does not seem like much.

“The funding will contribute to capacity development, the identification of new exporters, and in equipping Canadian exporters of organic products with market research, toolkits, messaging and a web profile, which will assist them in developing new markets,” said Patrick Girard, the supervisor of media relations at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

This funding, however, doesn’t help farmers like Oechsli.

In 43 years of organic farming Robert Oechsli has never used artifical fertilizers or pesticides.

“I don’t have enough production for export and if I am going to export I have to go to a federal butcher plant ... There is no certified organic butcher plant in this part of the country. So how do we get organic meat to the consumer? That is a big thing and we’ve been fighting that now for months,” says Oechsli.

According to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada website, meat is one of the fastest growing sectors of organic farming.

“The government lets the horse out of the barn before they close the door. For a butcher plant to be certified organic it is a tremendous amount of financial investment,” says Oechsli. “And how many organic farmers do we have around Ottawa in livestock? Not enough to supply a butcher shop, definitely not enough either for the consumers.”

Moreover, organic farmers who have to charge more for their meat to offset the costs of production can’t compete with Canada’s imported Brazilian beef and New Zealand lamb, says Oechsli.

However, the decision to open a specialty butcher shop focused on organic meat rests with the individual entrepreneur, said Girard in an email.           

Canada’s overall sales of organic exports in 2010 totaled $2.6 billion, according to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada website. The country exports organic products to the European Union, United States and Japan — the single largest being organic wheat.

“Canada is the only country that has international equivalency agreements with the United States and the European Union,” says Bustos.

“Basically it means that producers that are certified organic in the European Union or in Canada don’t have to go through a third verification party. They don’t have to spend that extra money, or go that extra mile, or do the extra paperwork to be able to export because the Canadian Organic Standards and our logo is enough. Nobody else has this and this is a huge advantage that the Canadian organic industry has,” she says.

However, the certification process required to be able to reap the benefits of the equivalency agreements isn’t neutral, privileging some farmers while excluding others.           

Certification struggles

On June 30, 2009 the government released the Organic Products Regulations, making organic the most regulated and inspected food system in Canada. Prior to these regulations, regulatory requirements were followed voluntarily.

“The regulations were designed in consultation with the organic sector. The whole value chain was involved in the creation of the regulations. The pressure came from the sector itself,” says Michel Saumur, the national manager of the Canada Organic Office.

As a result of the regulations, farmers wanting to export their products have to undergo a certification process to be considered organic and to be able to use the Canada Organic logo.

“The scope of the regulations is for inter-provincial and international trade, meaning that the product must be produced in the province and sold outside of the province,” says Saumur.

“You’re on your own if you’re small. As a small person I don’t qualify for government support."

The whole process takes three years, during which a farmer must come up with an organic plan and submit it to the certification body. Farmers also have to keep track of all the products they use on their land, where their seed comes from and where their animals are coming from. Farmers trying to become organic must abide by the Canadian Organic Standards set out by the Canadian General Standards Board.

After the initial certification, farms are re-assessed at least once a year.

The lack of a certified organic butcher shop and the expensive and time-consuming certification process is why Oechsli, despite farming on land that has been organic for almost 200 years, hasn’t been certified.

 “I have no certified butcher shop to stay organic, so why would I certify, what’s the benefit? There is none. The paperwork in certification is over $2,500 to initiate certification. You’re looking at one full day of paperwork a week for certification,” says Oechsli. “Plus re-certification costs around $700 a year and nobody pays you back. But, if you want to build an industry you can get grants from the government.”

“You’re on your own if you’re small. As a small person I don’t qualify for government support,” he says. 

Saumur admits the process impacts small-scale farms differently than large-scale farms.

“If a small-scale farmer wants to produce and distribute organic product, for sure there is an impact on them because he has to put in place an organic farm, he must be certified and is subject to monitoring and surveillance,” says Saumur.

Girard says the regulations are beneficial for farms of all sizes.

“These regulations came into force on June 30, 2009, and have stimulated the production and consumption of organically grown foods in Canada and facilitated international trade of organic products — actions which will help farm operations of all sizes,” he said in an email.

Another problem is the lack of a national program of assistance to farmers who want to convert from conventional to organic.

In Ontario, there are 716 farms, but only nine are certified organic farms, according to government statistics from 2009.

“Nationally there are no money or funds given for the conversion to organic. There are certain provincial governments that do aid farmers in converting from conventional to organic,” says Saumur.

Prince Edward Island is one such province, which established the Organic Industry Development Program in 2011 under the federal government’s Growing Forward initiative.

The program assists growers, grower alliances, producer groups and processors with increasing market competitiveness, adaptation, certified organic land conversion and specialized equipment. Applicants are eligible for a maximum of $80,000 in funding.

The federal government has invested in other programs under the Growing Forward initiative such as the $6.5 million in funding to establish Canada’s Organic Science Cluster.

“The Organic Science Cluster aims to help Canadian organic farmers capture more of the $2 billion domestic market while also improving their ability to compete on a global scale,” said Girard in an email.

For Oechsli, however, there is little choice but to count on the trust and support of the community to keep his farm going.

“I need to maintain the trust of the people and the only way I can do that as a small operation is to make sure everything that leaves my gate here at the farm is 100 per cent quality checked. I also took courses called Farm Food Safety provided by the Ontario government and the Canadian government,” he says.  

Oechsli says it is obvious there are critical discrepancies in the government’s approach to organic farming.

“Do you see anybody flourish? How many farms are closing down? A whole lot more,” he says.