New Hampshire’s organic farms are turning to Maine group for help

Almost half of the organic farms certified by a New Hampshire state program that was abruptly shuttered earlier this year turned to Maine to keep their certifications.

The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association is in the process of adding 35 New Hampshire producers to its roster, according to certification services director Chris Grigsby. In 2021, MOFGA certified just six producers in New Hampshire.

The association’s presence in the neighboring state has increased nearly ninefold since then as New Hampshire struggled to fund programs offered through its government rather than a private organization. Its commissioner has said funding in a state with no income or sales taxes is a particular hurdle.

Its state agriculture department suddenly closed a separate organic certification program for livestock and processed food companies in late 2021. About 15 of them went to MOFGA.

Sixty-six farms were certified by the remaining produce program whose closure was announced in late February, leaving farmers two months to find certification elsewhere, the Portsmouth Herald reported .

Some of them went to a certifier in Massachusetts, a few to Vermont and others gave up their certifications altogether, Grigsby said.

Fourteen other states offer their own certification programs just as New Hampshire did. Farmers in the rest of the country, including New England, are certified by independent accredited agents of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, like MOFGA.

New Hampshire’s agriculture commissioner cited expenses and staffing for the closures of both its in-house programs. Farmers there paid much less in annual certification costs than those in other states, from $50 to $500 based on farm size. In moving to the Maine organization, where cost is scaled up from $700 to thousands of dollars based on annual sales, one farmer told the Herald her cost had quadrupled.

But farmers felt the switch has benefitted them because of the community-focused, less bureaucratic experience, according to the newspaper.

MOFGA is not reliant on Maine’s state government in the same way and its prices cover the cost of inspection, according to its website.

The certification process through any agency is expensive and time-consuming, particularly with detailed recordkeeping, but it provides access to organic markets. Organic sales across the country reached a record high of $69.7 billion in 2023. The Organic Trade Association reported organic sales have increased every year for the past decade.

Figures for 2023 are not available yet for Maine farmers, Grigsby said, but in 2022 gross income for its certified operations totaled $114 million.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides a 75 percent cost offset to farmers for certification to cover up to $750 of total cost. These also apply for Maine farmers. Costs can be a reason producers choose not to get certified, Sherry Hamel, executive director of the Maine branch of the Farm Service Agency, said in a recent press release promoting the program.

Though MOFGA’s geographic reach may be expanding, Grigsby said that does not mean a large expansion of the organization itself. About 35 to 50 farmers let their certifications go each year while new ones come in, leading to steady levels over the past five years.

Grigsby expects a total of about 550 certified operations across states in 2024.