@GRASSROOTS.ORG/Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assn.

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GROUPS THAT CHANGE COMMUNITIES

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assn.

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assn. (MOGFA)
Russell Libby, Executive Director
P.O. Box 2176
Augusta, Maine 04338
(207) 622-3119

This model program, a 1994 winner of the Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award, has been promoting organic farming and gardening in Maine for more than 20 years through a growing membership and a popular annual country fair; in the past two years, it has been extending its reach to lower-income families and children through community gardening.

It all got started almost by accident in 1972, when the growing number of back-to-nature enthusiasts moving to Maine in search of the simple, rural life bombarded local Extension Service agent Charlie Gould with questions. Gould organized a mass meeting so he could answer a lot of questions at once, and the meeting led to an informal, primarily social group of farmers and gardeners that eventually evolved into MOGFA. It had no paid staff and nominal dues, but it soon developed a number of chapters in several communities, where it served a purpose similar to the Grange for newer families who didn't feel welcome in the older institution. It grew to a membership of 500 or so over several years, then got a fast boost in 1977 when a small group decided to sponsor a county fair as a fund-raising device. The first Common Ground Country Fair, on a small fairgrounds in the town of Litchfield, was advertised only by word of mouth, but it still drew a crowd of 3,000 and made money. Because of its success, it became an annual event, grew in size and scope every year, and -- now in larger quarters in the town of Windsor -- it attracts up to 60,000 visitors during its three-day weekend run (Sept. 23-25 this year), costs about $200,000 to put on, and brings in some $350,000, about two-thirds of MOGFA's annual revenue, in a good year. The fair showcases Maine's organic farmers and gardeners with produce displays, juried crafts, and all-organic food items; you'll find no hot dogs and cotton candy here, Libby says, but lamb sandwiches, organic bean dishes, potatoes and broccoli. Libby estimates that Maine farmers sell some $200,000 worth of produce at the fair, making it the state's single largest consumer of locally produced organic fare.

As MOGFA's major event of the year, the fair goes a long way to promote its mission of promoting organic farming and gardening in Maine; two of the organization's staff of six devote full time year-round to planning and organizing the event.

There's more going on in this organization's spartan offices in a downtown office building in little Augusta, though.

MOFGA runs an ORGANIC CERTIFICATION program, inspecting and certifying (for a fee) that farmers are using organic methods to produce their food and crops, a rating that the farmers may then use to market their wares.

In its APPRENTICESHIP program, MOGFA matches organic farmers with ready and willing volunteers (mostly college students) who spend a summer working on the farm in exchange for room and board and an intensive immersion in organic practices.

In the PUBLIC POLICY area, MOGFA lobbies for nutrition- and organic-related legislation at the state Capitol. Some of its legislative successes include one of the nation's earliest organic-food laws, dating back to the '70s; regulations restricting "spray drift," the careless distribution of aerial pesticide spraying on crops where it's not wanted; food-labeling and consumer regulations, and restrictions on bovine growth hormone and irradiation.

Finally, the two-year-old COMMUNITY GARDENING program, under the supervision of Nan Beale, a contractor, MOGFA has worked with Head Start organizations and the management of public and low-income housing complexes to establish 10 community gardens for poor families, particularly families with children. Using grants and donated seeds and garden preparation, MOGFA volunteers work with the gardeners to help them learn organic principles and supplement their summer diets with fresh vegetables and fruit.

MOGFA's annual budget is just under $500,000, of which about 70 percent comes from the fair, and which primarily goes to put on the fair and to pay the staff of six. A membership organization, it has a board of 23 members and claims about 3,000 dues-paying members, of whom 400 to 500 are commercial organic farmers. Members pay an average of $30 a year in dues, which entitles them to technical assistance from a staffer, frequent printed communications, and free admittance to the first day of the annual fair. And, as the group's brochure points out, an intangible but important benefit: "The satisfaction of supporting Maine's only organization devoted to producing and consuming healthful food in a way that protects the environment and promotes farmers' economic and social well-being."

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.
Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.
Send him E-mail.
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