What does organic mean to organic farmers?
Chris Regan, Sky Farm, Millerton, NY
I always farmed organically. I wouldn’t have done anything else. It seems like the honest way to farm, and using synthetic pesticides or chemicals is the opposite of the way to do it. This is my 19th season farming. The 15th year at Sky Farm, and I farmed four years up in the Berkshires.
Organic is working with nature, not telling it what to do, not demanding of it things it can’t do. You’re allowing Mother Nature to do the hard work, and you’re facilitating that. You’re doing a lot with the land, and it’s your responsibility to be treating it welly. You’re actually trying to make the soil better and dealing with your fields in a way that improves them.