Linley Dixon: Saving Organic: The First Five Years of The Farmer-Led Real Organic Project

#146: Linley Dixon, co-director of the Real Organic Project, speaks to the progress of our movement and the challenges we face, including new and misleading terms like "climate smart agriculture" and a misunderstood villainization of tillage. Linley was the lead-off speaker at our recent in-person event at Abby Rockefeller's Churchtown Dairy in Hudson NY, in mid-October.

Dr. Linley Dixon is the co-director of the Real Organic Project and the owner-operator of Adobe House Farm in Durango, Colorado. She has a Master’s Degree in Plant and Soil Science, specializing in Organic Agriculture,  and also earned a PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of West Virginia, specializing in tomato diseases. Linley has worked as a scientist for both The Cornucopia Institute and at the USDA.

To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/linley-dixon-saving-real-organic-first-five-years-episode-one-hundred-forty-six

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.

The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).

To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms

We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.

If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000  Real Friends:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends/

To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:

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