Growing people who grow

Kansas City, Missouri – If you’re an aspiring aggie, or want to plow your entrepreneurial energy into organic farming, the market is ripe. An example of the growing demand for organic food producers is the Growing Growers program, which trains and places future farmers in an apprenticeship program on farms in the Kansas City area.

The program was created by the region’s graying organic farmers as they began looking for the next generation of producers to replace them. The founders believe the best way to learn about farming is from farmers, through hands-on experience and informal training.

The idealistic dream of “I’m gonna retire to the farm and make a little pocket money selling organic vegetables” meets the “mud, sweat and fears” of real life on the farm. The goal is to shorten the learning curve for new farmers who can train and fast track into the organic farming business in one growing season.

Success of the 3-year-old program is based “on whether the apprentices go on to start their own farms. Out of last year’s apprentices, several have started their own small operations,” says Katherine Kelly, Growing Growers program manager. Additional information is on the Web site at www.GrowingGrowers.org.

“Some of the applicants like the idea of farming better than the reality,” Kelly says, “and this quickly becomes clear when they interview with the farmer for the apprenticeship position.”

It’s not just the fear of E. coli in spinach or the attraction of locally grown food that drives this trend to organics. Census figures indicate that the traditional family farm is disappearing in America. But niche markets, small organic gardening operations, are growing.

The number of organic farmers has increased steadily by rates of approximately 20 percent per year for more than 10 years, according to the Organic Farming Research Foundation. Consumer demand for locally grown foods, for knowing where their food comes from and how it grew, makes organic an attractive economic option to many new small farmers. In 1994, there were fewer than 3,000 certified organic growers in the United States. In 2006, the number burgeoned to approximately 10,000 certified organic producers.