Back up and running! Our journey to organic blueberries....

It's May 12, 2014 - Thanks to a generous SARE grant from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Moss Funnel Farms is joining with two other farmers, Raphael Salgado and (Rev.) Dave Harn to develop a quick process for small blueberry farmers to transition to organic practices, first, then hopefully organic certification.

Many smaller farmers are being squeezed as growers become larger and larger. Also, there is very strong demand among buyers in the marketplace for fruit that is not sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This has created a fertile moment for smaller farmers to embrace the organic banner.
And while the State of Michigan grows one third of all of America's blueberries, it's output of naturally grown and organic berries is miniscule.

We'll be documenting in this blog what steps are underway. Joe Corrado, the "Joe" in Moss Funnel Farm's Joe's Blues will be the lead farmer. He is being assisted by top blueberry researchers from Michigan State University and by Van Buren County, Michigan's well-respected fruit specialist, Mark Longstroth.