A Message Regarding “The Natural Farmer”
December 30, 2020
The Natural Farmer (TNF) “covers news of the organic movement nationally and internationally, as well as featuring stories about farmers from New England, New York, and New Jersey. Each issue contains a 16 to 24 page pull out supplement on a particular crop or topic. The paper also contains how-to-do-it articles suitable for gardeners and homesteaders.” For years, our NOFA membership has included a subscription to this quarterly newspaper.
The most recent issue of TNF, Winter 2020-2021, features a pullout section titled “Special Supplement on Who Owns Science?”. This section includes articles regarding the agrochemical industry, genetically modified crops, new research methods, and data on testing for nutrients in fruits and vegetables; all of which you might expect to find within the pages of TNF. In addition to these, there are a few articles in this section with censorship and vaccine-related content. These articles do not directly address connections to organic farming or food, or perspectives of farmers, gardeners, landcare or food professionals. With this in mind, the NOFA Interstate Council released a statement (see below) in response to this latest publication.
No doubt growers, eaters, and readers have all been impacted by COVID-19, and there are likely more challenges ahead. For us at CT NOFA, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of our commitment to supporting and advocating for the essential work of our community of organic growers, producers, and stewards. We are proud to work with you all, and we are inspired to see how so many of you have responded to this crisis over the past year.
Sincerely,
Steve Munno, CT NOFA Board President
A Message from the NOFA Interstate Council Regarding the Latest Issue of The Natural Farmer:
Greetings during this holiday season, and happy Winter Solstice!
Many of you will have already received the Winter 2020-2021 issue of The Natural Farmer; for those who have not, it should soon arrive in your mailboxes. After discussion, we, the members of the NOFA Interstate Council, are writing to the NOFA membership to provide some context and response regarding the content of Section B, titled “Special Supplement on Who Owns Science?”.
As background, The Interstate Council provides coordination between the chapters and acts as an umbrella organization for projects of collective interest to NOFA chapters. In addition, it is the publisher of The Natural Farmer. The longtime editor of TNF, Jack Kittredge, has given much effort and many years of service to the NOFA community, and this Winter issue is his last as he has been planning to retire. We wish him well in his retirement and thank him for 32 years of service as editor for the paper.
Our concerns about the supplement are that the vaccine-related content does not provide enough context or a sufficiently broad spectrum of viewpoints to inform our readership on what is clearly a topic of immediate and national concern. That some of the information derives from sources that stand against some of our most deeply held values is additionally problematic.
Independent of whether the topic of vaccines even belongs in our farming-centered publication (a decision made for this issue, as for every previous one, independently by the editor), we feel that the only responsible way to have included such a topic would be to include vigorous comments from voices in mainstream public health to offer an alternative point of view. We deeply regret that was not done.
Going forward, we will develop a more thorough process for editorial review which will advise and support the incoming editor. Interviews for the new editor are happening now, and we will keep our community informed of this process.
Thank you for your understanding. Please stay safe.
Warmly,
The NOFA Interstate Council
MA, RI, NJ, NH, NY, VT, CT
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Advocacy News: May 2026
The Good News: CT Senator Chris Murphy has introduced a bill (bipartisan and bicameral) to increase funding for Agricultural Management Assistance to $30 million and to expand the eligible uses for these funds to include “soil health improvements, composting, implementing organic farming, and food safety certification in addition to existing authorized uses such as water management structure and soil erosion control.” Let’s thank Senator Murphy for introducing this bill!
The Bad News: The Farm Bill passed the House of Representatives on April 30, despite 320 food, farm, and conservation organizations, including CT NOFA, voicing our opposition to a bill that does not fix SNAP, does not support new and beginning farmers, and does not adequately support conservation programs or organic agriculture. Now it goes to the Senate and we need to urge both of Connecticut’s Senators to reject this Farm Bill.
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In concluding its annual retreat, the Northeast Organic Farming Association Interstate Council (NOFA IC) reaffirms the values that have grounded our work for 55 years.
Our vision is that every person is able to live their life with healthy food, clean water and air, community, livelihood, dignity, and purpose within the means of our life-giving planet. We seek that vision on every level, from our households and farms to our communities, states, bioregions, nation, and world. For that vision to be fulfilled, every person, no matter their origin or circumstances, must have all their basic human needs met without degrading the air, water, soil, ecosystems, and climate which we have been given and on which we depend for our lives.