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New York Certified Organic
is a group of organic grain and dairy farmers in
New York that has been meeting together since
1994 for daytime meetings during the winter
months. We first started meeting in each other’s
kitchens, a handful of organic grain farmers who
needed to cooperate on organic certification so
we could export our soybeans to Japan. We
rapidly grew in number, exceeding the capacity
all our available kitchens, and moved our
meetings to the NY Ag Experiment Station in
Geneva in 1996. We have been meeting there
since!
NYCO meets monthly during the winter, typically
drawing a crowd of 75-100 farmers. The meetings
are free and open to the public. There is no
formal ‘membership’ in NYCO, we welcome everyone
who wants to come - - long-time organic farmers,
recent converts, and conventional farmers
‘testing the organic waters’, all who freely and
equally share their information, experience and
advice. There is always LOTS of talking,
useful information shared, and questions
answered. These are meetings where ‘active
audience participation’ is not only encouraged,
it is expected!
There is no cost for attending the NYCO
meetings. We just ask you to bring a dish of
something good to share with everyone at our
potluck lunch. We always allow plenty of time
at lunch for talking, making friends, enjoying
good homemade food, and being a community of
like-minded people. Typically, we have a
formal presentation in the morning on a specific
focus topic of interest/importance, then lunch,
followed by open discussion in the afternoon
when we cover both the morning's focus topic and
anything else organically-oriented that we feel
like talking about. Meetings run from 10 AM to
about 3:30 PM. This
newsletter
is produced monthly Dec - March and is available
for free by email, and for $5.00/year if mailed.
NYCO meetings focus on practical information and
expertise on organic weed control, soil
fertility management, pest control, crop
production, dairy issues and grazing,
alternative crops, marketing and pricing,
machinery and grain storage. We are usually
joined by Cornell faculty specialists,
extension, industry, and other ‘ag
professionals’ but this is a group of farmers,
led by farmers, with topics designed for and by
farmers, with more time for open discussion than
for ‘expert presentations’. We are not
associated with any certification agency, or
other organization.
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