In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

In Business, September-October, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 5, p. 30

GRASSROOTS ACTION

Mark Musick

TO PARAPHRASE Thomas Jefferson, I believe that organic farmers and gardeners are the most precious parts of the state. Tilth is a regional network of organizations representing the organic movement in the Pacific Northwest. Since its inception, Tilth's mission has been to promote the growth of ecological agriculture in both rural and urban communities. With the approach of our 30th Anniversary Conference, the time has come for Tilth people across the region to move to a new level of grassroots organizing.
For me, the most encouraging aspect of the annual Tilth Producers conference is the number of young people in attendance. On November 12-14, 2004, Tilth Producers of Washington will unite with Oregon Tilth for a major three-day gathering at the Columbia River Doubletree Hotel in Portland, Oregon. (For details contact Nancy at 206-442-7620 or nancy@tilthproducers.org.) At the conference, we will articulate a renewed vision for the future as we pass the baton from one generation to the next. (See: www.tilthproducers.org/conference.htm)
The regional Tilth movement grew out of a speech by Kentucky farmer and author Wendell Berry in Spokane, Washington on July 1, 1974. Wendell decried what he saw as the destruction of traditional agrarian culture.
“A culture is not a collection of relics and ornaments,” he said, “but a practical necessity, and its destruction invokes calamity. A healthy farm culture can only be based upon familiarity; it can only grow among a people soundly established upon the land; it would nourish and protect a human intelligence of the land that no amount of technology can satisfactorily replace.
“The growth of such a culture was once a strong possibility in the farm communities of this country. We now have only the sad remnants of those communities. If we allow another generation to pass without doing what is necessary to enhance and embolden that possibility, we will lose it altogether. And then we will not only invoke calamity - we will deserve it.”
In a follow-up letter, Wendell wrote that the Spokane symposium “proves the existence of a thoughtful and even knowledgeable constituency for a better kind of agriculture. And this constituency is as yet powerless because it has no program. It has no coherent vision of what is possible. It is without the arguments and the proofs - the language - that will make it coherent.”
Over the three decades, the regional Tilth movement has been devoted to forestalling the calamity Wendell envisioned by nurturing what he called the “constituency for a better kind of agriculture.” A generation has passed since he spoke those words, and Tilth's efforts to revitalize agriculture in the Pacific Northwest are now paying off.

THE NEW GLOBAL SUPERPOWER
In February, 2004, in his keynote address to the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Paul Hawken quoted a New York Times article stating there are now two global superpowers. “One of course is the U.S.,” he said, and “the other superpower is civil society.”
Hawken noted that “there are in the world today over 100,000 nongovernmental organizations, foundations, citizen-based organizations that are addressing the issues of social and ecological sustainability....This is real human evolution. Such an upwelling of shared wisdom and understanding has never before happened in history, never. It is the fastest growing movement in the world, and it will prevail, not as an ideology but as a standard set by humanity for itself.”
In the Northwest, there are now as many as 300 civil society organizations devoted to the issues of food and agriculture. These range from mainstream organizations such as the Grange and Farm Bureau, to organizations devoted to rural economic development, land preservation, hunger relief, and public policy. Of these, the regional network of organizations comprising the Tilth movement - Oregon Tilth, Seattle Tilth, South Whidbey Tilth, Spokane Tilth, Sno-Valley Tilth, Vashon Island Growers Association, and Tilth Producers of Washington - play the vital role of focusing on organic food production and distribution.
The Tilth movement was born at a dark time in our nation's history. By 1974, the optimism of the '60s was long dead. It died in the assassinations of John F Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. It died on the streets of Chicago during the '68 Democratic convention. It died in the darkness of the Nixon years and in the seemingly never-ending nightmare of Vietnam.
During that time, what we called the “alternatives” movement turned inward. Unable to change the world, people chose to focus instead on what they could affect closer at hand - gaining practical skills in growing food and building homes, and in starting small farms, food cooperatives and regional distribution networks.
Inspired by our meeting with Wendell Berry in Spokane, Tilth was formed in the summer of 1974 to host the Northwest Conference on Alternative Agriculture. Held in Ellensburg in November of that year, the conference attracted more than 800 food and agriculture activists. At that conference, the isolated, individual efforts of people across the region first began to coalesce and take form.
The spirit of the Ellensburg conference was epitomized by a heated discussion late the second night. Upward of 100 people crowded into a large room in one of the dorms where we were staying, engaged in a lively debate on the state of the world. The climax came when, in response to an impassioned harangue on impending global depression, a fellow in the back of the room stepped forward and declared, “Shiiit! I've been depressed since 1968 - and I'm just beginning to feel better!”
The crowd roared with laughter. He said it all. Meeting together for the first time that night, we were all just beginning to feel better.
Thirty years later, it feels as if we're in an even darker era of social and economic uncertainty. After 9/11, our nation is under the rule of an even more frightening regime, and we are in the midst of yet another seemingly interminable war. With the accumulated threats of global terrorism, climate change and peak oil, sometimes it feels as if the entire world has entered into a dark night of the soul.
Fortunately, we no longer face the darkness alone. Where we once felt isolated, Tilth people are now joined by a broad base of consumers, chefs, retailers, food writers, church groups, and an increasing number of ag researchers and educators. It's been a long time coming, but the stage is now set for the agricultural renaissance Wendell Berry called for 30 years ago.

GOING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
The Tilth movement is primed for rapid growth. Today organic farming represents the fastest growing sector of the agricultural economy, and nearly 40 percent of consumers choose to invest their dollars in organically grown foods. From a few scattered farms in 1974, there are now 554 certified organic farms in Washington state, with an estimated 40,000 acres in production. In addition, the state has 298 certified organic processors and handlers. The farmgate value of organically grown foods in Washington grew from $2.5 million in 1988 to a projected $140 million for 2004, with a 20 percent annual growth rate projected for the next five years.
In collaboration with the Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network, Tilth Producers has been instrumental in promoting support for small farms and ecological agriculture within both Washington State University and the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Now is the time to reach out to the growing constituency for sustainable agriculture to strengthen our organization and fund expanded organic research, educational and marketing programs.
This past year, Diane Dempster took the lead in forming a committee that raised nearly $20,000 to fund Tilth Producers' first “Organic Harvest Month” marketing campaign. This is just the beginning. The success of this year's effort will encourage even greater support for Tilth marketing campaigns in coming years.
By mobilizing the support of the 100 or more Tilth farmers who sell in local markets across the state, the organization's impact can be amplified many fold. The potential is stunning. This year, sales at Washington's 90 farmers markets will hit $25 million, and each week during the growing season, an estimated 100,000 consumers shop at farmers' markets in our state.
Imagine what would happen if even one percent of those shoppers were encouraged to contribute to the Tilth movement. Given the rapidly growing market for organically grown foods, my hunch is that thousands of people will welcome the opportunity to support organic education and research in our region.
Many people now recognize food and farming as the foundations for sustainable local communities. Our 30th Anniversary Conference will inspire the next generation of Tilth leaders to reach out to this growing constituency to join us in transforming agriculture in the Pacific Northwest.

Mark Musick is one of the founders of Tilth and is an In Business contributing editor. He currently works with Watershed LLC, a consulting firm based on Vashon Island, Washington.