Building the Real Organic Project with Linley Dixon

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Linley Dixon, an organic vegetable farmer in southwest Colorado. Dixon co-created the Real Organic Project, which is a label farmers can add onto the USDA's certified organic label. "The Real Organic Project is a very grassroots effort," Dixon said. "Many farmers felt like the USDA organic seal was no longer reflecting the way that they farmed. It started as sort of a rallying cry to make sure that soil health was still fundamental to what could be certified as organic." The project focuses on growing crops in healthy soils and raising livestock on diverse pastures. About 1,000 farms across the U.S. have been Real Organic certified, with 150 new farms signing up this year. "Farms of all types and scales are involved, and it's pretty exciting to see us all come together again and get that kind of grassroots movement back into organic," Dixon said. For farmers to get the add-on certification, they first need to have the USDA certification. Farms will then be inspected by someone from the Real Organic Project. Adding the certification is free. "It was very important to us that the burden of another label didn't fall on the farmers," Dixon said. She said many farmers have signed for the program because they believe in its goals and messaging, and the project has allowed for a sense of community to grow. "I wish that we could have more of this in agriculture in general," Dixon said. "More sharing, less competition. How can we work together? A rising tide lifts all boats. These are things that I really believe in." Listen here: