Nate Stireman and co-founder Tara Stireman created Steep Mountain Farm in Wellsville, Utah, in the fall of 2015 with a dream of starting an agriculture project centered around ecosystem and community: “Our primary land goal is to maintain a low-tech, closed-loop bio-diverse system where nutrients are cycled with rotational crops and animal management strategies.”
Now, with the help of the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP), Steep Mountain Farm is transitioning to USDA-certified organic production.
TOPP is a nationwide USDA initiative to provide mentorship, technical assistance, and wrap-around support to transitioning and existing organic producers. Through TOPP, the CCOF Foundation leads the Western & Southwestern Regional Center for Organic Transition, working with a coalition of partners to support producers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas.
Transitioning to organic certification isn’t a huge leap for Steep Mountain Farm. “Our farming practices are already practically organic, and we don’t use many external inputs, so we haven’t had to do much differently there,” Stireman explains. “The most helpful part [of mentorship through TOPP] has been with the documentation and recordkeeping. That part’s a big change. It’s good to have a guide and templates.”
TOPP also offers a mentorship program, which connects producers seeking organic certification with experienced mentor producers. When Michele Schahczenski, the Organic Outreach Coordinator for TOPP at Utah State University, reached out to the Stiremans about participating in the program, she also connected their farm with a nearby organic farm. “We got to work with Bill and Penny at First Frost Farm, who are great,” Stireman says. “They’re one of the longer-certified organic farms in Utah. They’ve helped with all the requirements for documentation, like weighing seeds, keeping seed inventory, sourcing organic seed, weighing stock when they come out of the field, just detailed info about where you need to keep records and track things. Little things I wasn’t aware of.”
While navigating new paperwork can be a challenge, Stireman also sees a silver lining. “Aside from just being certified organic, this process lights a fire under us to plan better. It really helps with planning and forecasting.”
The incentives that programs like TOPP offer can be the determining factor in whether many farms decide to pursue organic certification. “Honestly, I’ve never been one for labels to matter, since we sell direct to consumers and people who know our practices already trust us,” Stireman says. “It’s probably not something I would have got up and proposed on my own, but the fact that Michele reached out and laid it in our laps, we said, okay, yeah, this actually makes sense to go the extra mile.”
Stireman also sees a benefit in the extra opportunities organic farms can be eligible for through programs like TOPP. “Utah State has programs that would be able to use us more for research if we were certified organic, as well as for internship programs,” he points out. Steep Mountain Farm has also been able to find compensation for hosting interns through TOPP, as well as attending workshops and meetings to collaborate and share resources within the local farming community. “We got to host a TOPP event on our farm,” he says. “A whole bunch of other farmers came, and people who were interested in organic farming. There was good food. It was fun.”
Although TOPP is ending this year, Stireman appreciates the assistance and funding opportunities it offered. “Finances shouldn’t be a barrier to going organic,” he says. “My personal view is that we’re doing all the work to prove we have good practices, but it should be the conventional people having to explain why they’re not organic. It’s a reverse standard. Organic should be the standard. But it’s where we’re at.”
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The Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) is a nationwide initiative supporting transitioning and existing organic producers across six geographic regions of the U.S. (including the West/Southwest region led by the CCOF Foundation).
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Want to support the next generation of organic growers? Donate to the CCOF Foundation. Our organic transition grants provide funding, 1:1 organic technical assistance, access to mentorship, and business training opportunities to farmers transitioning to organic over a three-year period.
