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the Org
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Marla Pisciotta
Dairy farmer Rem Perkins, owner of Perk Farm Organic Dairy in Greenbrier County, says organic farming
is the way Mother Nature intended it to be. “Organic is the cheapest way. We let our cows harvest the grass
themselves. They spread their manure; it’s by far the best way to go.”
There is an extreme difference between conventional and organic farming. Conventional farmers use pesticides,
herbicides and chemicals on the land. None of that goes on an organic farmer’s land. Cattle are never injected with
hormones or antibiotics either; however, some organic wormers, if necessary, are used.
In addition, no commercial fertilizer is spread on the land. “We cut the pastures to control the weeds,”
said Perkins.
Perk Farm Organic Dairy has 700 Jersey cattle on 1600 acres – 800 owned, and 800 rented. Perkins’
grandfather, Mason, purchased the land in 1942. The third generation of his family to farm, Perkins switched to
organic farming in 2009. Prior to that, the family farmed conventionally, and realized after years of work that the
conventional way was not financially feasible for them.
“When my wife and I decided to go organic, at that time my father, Harry, wasn’t making decisions. However,
he was not for going organic. He was very much against it,” Perkins said. “I told him that I couldn’t farm the way he
farmed 30 years ago.”
Perkins and his wife Mary began transitioning the farm to organic in 2006. “It takes three years to convert the land
to organic and one year to convert the cows so you can sell the milk as organic,” Perkins said. He said the animals
would always be considered transition animals. The mother of a calf has to be completely organic before the calf is
considered organic.
Perkins’ organic milk is sold to Organic Valley. Much of the milk goes to Stonyfield, which is made into
Stonyfield yogurt.
12 West Virginia Farm Bureau News