Why Choose A Produce Share?
Our produce share is based on a model called Community Supported Agriculture or CSA. This concept was created in the 1960s by Booker T. Whatley, a Black horticulturist, agricultural professor, and advocate for farming practices that help sustain and rebuild the land. In a CSA, individuals or families pay in advance for a season of naturally grown, fresh, local vegetables. Seed to Table veggies are grown within guidelines of organic practices.
Seed to Table’s Commitment to Organic
More About
“Grown Within Guidelines of Organic Practice”
Seed to Table’s standards are based on the highest ideals of the organic movement. Our approach is based on transparency and direct relationships. While Seed to Table farm is not USDA Certified Organic, we go above and beyond to follow the guidelines and even more of organic farming regulations. This means you can be assured that we don't use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or GMOs, just like certified organic farmers. Beyond this, we take seriously our responsibility to steward the land we are on. Our team focuses on utilizing techniques that replenish and build our soil ecosystem, conserve water, and rotate crops in order to ensure biological and nutrient balance.
We believe we can provide the highest quality and most affordable organically grown produce without the certification. This certification is based on:
1) Many large wholesale and retail companies require a USDA organic certification to distribute food and pay farmers for the organic wholesale prices. 97% of Seed to Table’s sales are done direct to local customers through our produce share and farmers market. Our relationship and story of our farm being founded on organic practices is based on direct relationships and our customers being able to see the farm and our practices weekly.
2) The USDA organic certification would require our staff to dedicate a much larger amount of time to record keeping, inspections and keeping up with the certifications. As our team is extremely small we have decided to allocate our resource of time to putting organic practices into action. This helps us keep our team efficient and costs of our produce down. The organic certification and keeping the certification can be costly with time and funds.
3) Our team is 100% dedicated to organic and naturally grown practices. We share these stories weekly and live into these actions every day.
Practices We Use Daily :
Seed to Table plants all organic seeds, if they are available in the variety and quantity we require. We never use seeds treated with inorganic methods.
We practice crop rotation to minimize pests and disease and to improve soil.
We only use organic and naturally produced amendments including Perfect Blend (chicken manure blend), Bio Live (Down to Earth Product) and a few OMRI certified micronutrients (Gypsum, Boron, Manganese, and Zinc). We have only applied fertility, pest, disease and weed management inputs that have either been approved by OMRI or by an organic certification agency.
We go the extra step to verify that what we use meets organic standards, understanding there are numerous agricultural input products that make organic claims that are untrue.
We cover-crop with Rye, Vetch, Peas, Clover, and more to add green manure back to the land to sequester carbon.
We wash our vegetables in fresh, clean Central Oregon water without adding bleach.
We grow a diverse array of vegetables and never monocrop.
We have bee hives and plant pollinator and beneficial insect habitats.
We plant perennials, annuals, flowers, and trees to diversify our little ecosystem.
We care deeply for the people who tend the farm - caring for physical and emotional health first.
Practices We DO NOT Use:
We never use synthetic chemicals, pesticides or herbicides.
We never use GMOs.
We never plant any seeds that have undergone synthetic treatments, such as fungicides or insecticides.
We never put production and profit over people and the health of our land and community.