Joy is the one thing about organic farming you can't measure.

But it exists, said Theresa Podoll of Fullerton.

"The creativity just comes out in them, transforms them," she said. "They regain their excitement for the life under their care."

Podoll is the executive director of the 25-year-old Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, a network of organic and sustainable farming advocates. Podoll and her husband farm near Fullerton in southeastern North Dakota.

Organic farmers are trying to unhook from the corporate-controlled system of farming, she said.

"Producing cattle is not like producing gears for an automobile. Instead of looking for a cure in a pesticide container, nature has built-in ways of balancing things," Podoll said.

The feel of spray on your face

Wayne Mittleider's dad got away from using chemicals on his crops.

He told his son that on breezy day, he could feel the back-spray on his face.

Mittleider farms 1,600 organic acres and raises organic beef south of Tappen, near his dad and the place he grew up. He says he's not a scientist or a doctor - not that they have all the answers - but he figures something that will kill weeds or bugs might hurt people, too. His family's health is the No. 1 reason he's been farming organically for almost 30 years.

It helps that the Mittleiders live in a region with light soils; purchased fertilizer burns the crops, he said.

"This is perfect country for organic farming. No fertilizer is a natural thing to do in our area." That's part of the reason the region around Tappen has a high number of organic farmers.

In almost 30 years, Mittleider has only had to till under one crop where the weeds got out of control.

"We try to prevent things before they happen. I took a bad thing and made something good out of it."

Making the change

One of the main challenges in changing to organic is to get the farms' ecology back into a natural balance, Podoll said. Finding balances between beneficial and predatory insects, synergies between crops and cattle. Soil structure has to be rebuilt. Farmers must make a weed- and pest-management plan.

"It's like going through a withdrawal process," she said.

The transition period to become "certified organic" is three years, she said.

Farmers must be able to hold on financially during those three years when their transitional products can't be sold as certified organic. However, there are markets for transitional products and strategies that can help producers with their bottom line and maintain cash flow during that time, Podoll said.

A support network and learning from each other cannot be overemphasized, she said.

Family farm friendly

North Dakota people see the erosion of family farming as an inevitability," Podoll said. And for those who choose to stay in the industrial ag mode, she said she believes it is.

In that system, "the writing's pretty much on the wall," she said. "Farms will continue to get bigger and use more heavy-handed technology."

Organic farming is friendly to family farming because it needs more "eyes per acre," Podoll said. It also can use more hands and raises a more profitable product. Organic wheat, for example, can bring twice the per bushel price of nonorganic, she said.

Mittleider also farms organically because he can make a living on less land.

The myth is that organic acres yield fewer bushels. Not true, he said - "we outyield the big guys," he said.

One of the big operator's conventional acreages could support 10 to 15 organic farming families, he said. Those people would then support towns and schools, he said.

Mittleider hopes that his way of life will make it another generation. Son Patrick is a student at Bismarck State College, and daughter Tiffany works in Bismarck. Mittleider credits organic farming for the fact that, unlike many farm families, his wife Kathy doesn't have to take a second job in town.

A new way of thinking

Organic farming demands a whole turnaround in tactics and thinking.

On their 1,600 organic acres, "because we don't spray," Mittleider said, "we rotate." Alternating early seeded grasses such as wheat and oats with late-seeded corn or broadleaf crops helps break up weed cycles by varying the times the ground is tilled. Alfalfa and sweet clover are planted and tilled down for green manure. The Mittleiders try a new crop every year - "some do well, some don't," he said.

Good steward

Mittleider's products are certified by independent inspectors from the Organic Crop Improvement Association, based in Nebraska, and International Certification Services, based in Medina.

A paper trail follows an organic product all its life. Wheat of Mittleiders's can be traced back from a buyer in New York or Paris to the field in which it grew.

Mittleider also raises certified organic cattle, about 375 cow-calf pairs, crossbred Angus, Simmental and Gelbvieh.

Organic beef is a new field, he said. Cattle weren't allowed to be marketed as organic until the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed rules that defined "organic," he said.

Like crops, cattle must be organic all the way. As crops must be sown with certified organic seed, cattle must be fed an all-organic diet. Scares such as mad cow disease should never happen in an organic market, he said.

Cattle get all state-required vaccinations, but an animal that needs antibiotics must be cut out of the organic line, identified by ear notch or colored tag and not sold on the organic market, Mittleider said.

"It's an integrity thing."

Inspectors examine pastures and fields, looking for signs of chemical use or abuse or mistreatment of animals. Violations mean loss of certification and the premium price that certified organic products bring.

"You have to be a good steward," Mittleider said.

Trucks that haul away his crops must be washed thoroughly before they are filled; paperwork must be sent along, samples taken.

"It's the reputation thing again," he said.

To market, to market

Huge corporations are not into organic agriculture, Mittleider said; it's not big enough.

"It's all little niche markets," he said.

People don't buy a lot of organic in the Midwest, he said; it's mostly on the coasts and overseas. Lots of organic millet goes to Switzerland, lentils and beans to Asia, wheat to Germany.

Organic products are sold to mills, buyers, brokers and users, but you have to find them, Mittleider said. Everybody in the food chain has to be certified.

"You have to be a marketer. If you don't like selling what you raise, you'll have a tough time. You have to do the calling.

"Once you develop a relationship with buyers, it's easier. Just starting out, you don't know who to sell to."

At harvest time, you're at the mercy of buyers, he said. And buyers of organic products are often small "mom and pop" operations vulnerable to market forces, Mittleider said. He knows of some occasions where people didn't get paid for their grain.

His best advice: Know somebody in organic agriculture. Find a mentor.

Podoll said that NPSAS members offer just that - a guidance network of experienced organic and sustainable farmers.

The Tappen 'pocket'

Patrick O'Neil, organic coordinator at the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, estimates at least 175-180 organic operations throughout the state.

North Dakota has the second-largest number of organic acres in the country, only slightly behind California, O'Neil said.

"We also grow more organic grain than anybody," he said.

Although organic growers are widespread, if there is a "pocket," it's around Tappen, he said.

A lot of organic farmers in that area are continuing a tradition handed down by their fathers, who didn't do a lot of spraying, said Twyla Stroh, whose family has farmed organically south of Tappen since 1986. Stroh also is secretary-treasurer of the Chapter No. 2 of the OCIA.

She sees lots of organic operations in Kidder County, reaching into Logan County. Farmers are raising wheat, buckwheat, lentils, peas, "lots of flax," corn, oats, and some organic beef, among others, she said.

"Nothing against the conventional farmer," she said. "It's our belief that it's a healthier choice. We like to keep our soil healthy."

And once certification opened up, it led to better markets for their products, Stroh said.

But you can't do it just for the money, she said.

"You have to have your heart in organic farming."