Organic Certifications and sustainability

Facts about Winterfell Acres Sustainability and Regenerative Agriculture COMMITMENTS:

• Winterfell Acres has been USDA Certified Organic since 2015, Real Organic Project certified since 2021 and endorsed by FairShare CSA Coalition since 2015.

  • Each year, our Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA) and Real Organic Project inspectors visits our farm to ensure that we are complying with the National Organic Program regulations.

  • Certified organic produce is grown without chemical pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides; GMO or bioengineered seeds and plants are also prohibited.

  • Our Real Organic Project certification also requires us to always grow in-ground/real soil, all our livestock have 100% access to the outdoors year round and to follow their fair farm labor standards.

  • FairShare CSA Coalition also has stringent requirements including all our fruit and vegetable produce must be certified organic and 85% of our CSA shares must be produced on farm.

• We take great care in stewarding our land and in building our soil, spending 4-6% of our annual budget on soil building practices, compost, amendments, soil analysis and creating and sustaining biodiversity on the farm.

  • Out of our 43 acres, 35 are certified organic: 1 acre is in annual vegetable production, 2 acres of orchard, 4 acres of pasture, 26 in wild woodland and 8 rented out to a neighbor (with no sprayed allowed).

• We practice a crop rotation that includes 6 plots (1/3rd) of our 1 acre annual crop production that receive no tillage for 2 years.

• Over half our farm electricity needs are covered by our 48-panel solar array that we installed in 2020.

• We grow in a passive solar high tunnel to produce everything from greens to tomatoes all year.

• We also grow in a geothermal, passive solar, highly-insulated greenhouse to produce our seedlings and lots of veggies 12 months out of the year.

• The vast majority (over 90%) of our produce goes to families, restaurants and school districts within 25 miles of our farm.

• We strive to use as little plastic as possible (Farmer Beth finds great pride in sending out a CSA with no plastic usage!) purchase only post-consumer recycled plastic products (including plastic bags, seedling pots, clamshells, etc.).

• Every winter, we look at how we can use less plastic, create a closed-loop farm system and hold our Land in greater regard and respect.

For more information about our growing practices, please contact us as we are strong believers in transparency and are happy to talk with you.