Interest in organic farming swells, state Ag Dept. seeks more inspectors to keep up
Interest in organic farming is ballooning in Idaho, to the point that the state Department of Agriculture is seeking to up its staffing from three inspectors to five, with one of them coming on board right away. “We don’t have much choice – we had to get going on it,” said state Ag Director Celia Gould. “It’s a big deal.”
Gould made her budget pitch to lawmakers on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning, and several had questions about why she’s requesting state general funds for the second of the new positions, rather than relying on fees from the producers. Gould said, “We see this as a ramp-up. … The training is very costly for our inspectors.” With the funding for the coming year, she said, “We’re hopeful … that we can ramp up to the point that the fees will then take over for us. … We have definitely seen an up-growth. We think this will take care of it for the future.”
The arrival of two large manufacturers in Idaho in 2015, Amy’s Kitchen and Clif Bar, significantly increased the demand for organic products from Idaho certified organic producers, the department reported to lawmakers. At the same time, some of Idaho’s largest existing ag businesses, including major milk processors, asked to start the organic certification process, which takes three years.
“For us, the problem is front-loading that to get the inspectors out in the field,” Gould told JFAC. She said the department knew that Amy’s Kitchen and Clif Bar were arriving. “I was hopeful we could do it with what we had,” she said. “It just hit us faster than I ever expected.”
National figures now show 81 percent of families report buying organic products, she said. And dairies that are going organic need organic feed.
In the past year, Gould said 149 operations requested application information to go organic, and 47 new applications were received. More than 200 inspections were conducted.
The state Department of Agriculture employs the equivalent of 201 state employees; seasonal workers can bump that up to more than 600 during the peak of the agricultural production season. Just 26 percent of the department’s overall budget of $30 million comes from state tax funds; 9 percent is from federal funds; and 65 percent from dedicated funds largely consisting of fees on producers. For next year, Gov. Butch Otter is recommending a 5.4 percent increase in state general funds for the department, 8.9 percent in total funds.
