­ The Franklin family has been farming in southern Vermont for nine generations and the Organic Trade Association (OTA) is making sure their soil stays fresh.

A family operation with one son helping full-time and two others pitching in on weekends, the certified organic dairy farm stays busy raising and milking some 52 dairy cows, along with producing fresh organic eggs and farm-raised organic beef and some of the best-tasting organic maple syrup in Vermont, reported the OTA. Beginning this year, Franklin Farm has the OTA watching its back and helping to make sure the family can continue its proud traditions.

The farm recently joined under the association’s new Farmstead Membership category. This new category makes full OTA membership available to smaller organic farmers for just $50 per year. Mary Ellen Franklin, whose husband David bought the farm from an aunt and uncle 30 years ago, said there is a desire to get more involved and to help organic farms like theirs stay in business caused them to join OTA.

“We know that OTA deals in Washington with people in suits, and those folks need to hear from the farmers, from the folks on the ground. If we can increase the farmer voice in Washington, that would be a good thing,” she said. “It’s important that small farms like ours stay around.”

The Farmstead Membership is open to organic farmers whose annual income from organic sales is less than $250,000 and who have current membership in one of the farmer-driven organizations with which OTA’s Farmers Advisory Council (FAC) has formed a strategic alliance. Farmstead Membership farmers get the full benefits of an OTA membership, including the right to vote in OTA’s annual Board of Directors election.

“In keeping with OTA’s value that farmers are the foundation of the organic industry, it was imperative for OTA to design a process to hear the voices of all farmers,” said Perry Clutts, co-chair, FAC, and an organic farmer from Ohio.

According to Laura Batcha, CEO and executive director, OTA, the association is tackling farmers’ issues with stakeholders across the supply chain. “We’ve heard some concern that smaller organic farmers didn’t have access to OTA, and we needed to address this concern,” said Batcha. “We are offering this very reasonable membership so that we can expand the already big and diverse OTA tent in order to represent all of the organic community even more effectively.”

The Farmers Advisory Council was formed by OTA in 2013 with a mission to elevate the voices of organic farmers and to provide guidance on how to constructively engage with national policy leaders. FAC helps bring farmer ideas to the attention of the OTA Board for consideration so that, in words of co-chair Clutts, “OTA can better serve the entire organic sector, from farm to plate.”

Providing a vehicle for ongoing conversation between the members, FAC, in its annual report, has identified a number of common themes that the group and OTA are addressing:

• The supply shortage of organic ingredients, especially grain, and ways to encourage transition to organic production
• The analysis and feedback on critical regulatory issues like the Food Safety Modernization Act and animal welfare
• The organic crop contamination from prohibited residues
• The information on the proposed organic check-off program; access to land for beginning organic and transitioning-to-organic farmers
• The concerns regarding shortages of labor and international trade barriers.

“As FAC continues to build in size and momentum, this council will become stronger and better help OTA represent the organic farming community,” said Clutts.

For more information, visit www.ota.com.