35. Joyce Ford & Jim Riddle, long-time organic farmers

Sustainable Agriculture Policy with Ron Kroese

Joyce E. Ford and Jim Riddle have worked tirelessly on organic agriculture policy in the state of Minnesota, nationally, and internationally.

This week, Ron Kroese talks with the long-time organic farmers and sustainable farming advocates from Winona, Minnesota, who share their numerous accomplishments, stories of colleagues they’ve worked with throughout the years, how they got started in the organic field, and what’s next for organics.

For more than 30 years, Jim has been an organic farmer, gardener, inspector, educator, policy analyst, author, and avid organic eater. Joyce started her career as an organic vegetable farmer in the 1970s.

The couple helped organize the Winona Farmers Market, where Jim was a founding chair of the Winona Farmers Market Association.

Joyce and Jim also helped start the International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA). In that capacity, they co-authored the IOIA inspector curriculum manuals, and co-developed IOIA’s inspector training program and projects such as organic system plans and record keeping templates for organic certification. Joyce has trained organic inspectors for the IOIA and was the first inspector to monitor pipeline construction on organic farms, enforcing Minnesota Agricultural Impact Mitigation Plan’s Organic Appendix. She served as IOIA’s Ethics Committee chair for many years.

Jim served as chair of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Organic Advisory Task Force and was instrumental in passage of Minnesota’s landmark organic certification cost-share program, which now is a farm bill program that provides 75% reimbursement for organic certification costs nationwide.

In addition, Jim worked for the University of Minnesota as Organic Outreach Coordinator and as Organic Research Grants Coordinator for Ceres Trust. He served on the Leadership Team for eOrganic, the national Extension Community of Practice for organic agriculture and on the Citizens Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He was the steering committee chair for the Organic Farmers Association when it was newly formed in 2016.

Jim is former chair of the USDA National Organic Standards Board and a leading voice for organic agriculture.

Joyce co-authored the Organic Trade Association Good Organic Retailing Practices (GORP), and the certification chapter in Organic Dairy Farming published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES). Joyce served on the MOSES board of directors for 6 years. More recently, she served 3 years on the Steering Committee to develop a Healthy Food Charter for Minnesota and volunteered to assist Winona County in developing a county Food Charter, a policy action plan to help get healthy foods accessible.

Joyce has worked for the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS) and has served on its Accreditation Committee that administers accreditation for organic certification and other sustainable labels.

In 2013, Joyce and Jim were awarded EcoFarm’s Stewards of Sustainable Agriculture. They currently operate Blue Fruit Farm, a certified organic perennial fruit farm, where they grow blueberries, black currants, elderberries, aronia berries, honeyberries, and more.

The interview was conducted on Feb. 14, 2018.

Additional links this episode:

National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)

Organic Farmers Association

International Organic Inspectors Association

Winona Farmers Market