402.477.2323 info@ocia.org

Thursday, May 1, 2014

The newest member of the OCIA International Board of Directors is no stranger to the organization or farming.

Susan Linkletter, 44, grew up on a dairy in New Brunswick, Canada, with farming in six generations of her family on both sides.

“So I guess you could say it’s in my blood,” she said.

Spinach grows in the unheated Earth Friendly Farm greenhouse, near Salisbury, NB, in April, as four feet of snow climbs the walls. (Photo by Susan Linkletter)
Spinach grows in the unheated Earth Friendly Farm greenhouse, near Salisbury, NB, in April, as four feet of snow climbs the walls. (Photo by Susan Linkletter)

While her family’s farm had few vegetables, she went into the business of raising them on her Diddley Squash Farm near Salisbury, NB, in 1997. She saw how tied down her family was milking cattle; you could never leave. With vegetables, she said she “can leave them for the weekend and they’re fine, usually.”

She grows salad greens in a greenhouse she called Earth Friendly Farm in winter months and a little of everything in the summer; tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, squash, spinach, parsley, kale, cilantro, and she sprouts broccoli, lentils and alfalfa. “All that stuff,” she said, and it’s all organic. She certified organic in 1998 through the Organic Crop Improvement Association. OCIA was one of only a couple certifiers in the region at the time, with a member group OCIA New Brunswick Chapter 1.

“It doesn’t hurt that they were a great bunch of people,” she said.

She was the chapter president for five of the last seven years. Now she was elected to a three-year term on the OCIA International Board of Directors at the 2014 Annual General Membership Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. OCIA is a global certifier that has a strong local presence, where Susan said people look for pesticide-free produce. Pesticide use is a growing environmental concern, such as with pollinator declines, she said. She can’t grow enough organic produce to meet demand. When they deliver produce locally, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 p.m., it’s all gone by 5 p.m.

“I’d love to grow all of it year round,” she said, “but it’s only 6,000 square feet of greenhouse space so I have to be selective.”

She owns 130 acres, but only 10 acres are fit for farming. The land hadn’t been farmed for 10 years when she bought it, but it had some of its topsoil stripped and was mostly woods. Some describe the province as undeveloped: 87 percent of food is imported with about 750,000 people living there, she said. She had two interns from France who couldn’t get over how many trees New Brunswick had. Her own farm does selective woodcutting mostly for heating the greenhouse. Thinning out the trees helps them get optimum growth, she said. Having some isolated land was ideal for an organic farmer, she said.

She remembered what started her onto organics. She read warning labels on chemical bottles her family used to spray on corn as child, and realized how horrible they were. She didn’t want her own children around those chemicals. She now has four children with her husband Jeff, 52. Their children are Jonathan, 19, Brittany, 16, Natalie, 13, and Mathew, 10.

Susan, with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in environmental science from Mount Allison University, shares her knowledge with home gardeners and works with schools on growing their food. She teaches her own children about earning money, helping at her farm during the summer. She said when Matthew asked for a new Playstation, she told him, “That’s a lot of beans.”

The OCIA Family Spotlight is a series of stories about OCIA members, in celebration of the International Year of Family Farming.

CONTACT

Date Published:  May 1st, 2014
Author/Title:  Demetria Stephens, OCIA International Board Member
E-Mail:  sandnuri@gmail.com
Address:  OCIA, 1340 N. Cotner Blvd, Lincoln, NE, 68505

This Form Has Already Been Submitted!

Please go to Account > Edit Forms to edit this form. Thank you.

You haven't submit Certification Application

Please go to Account > Certification Application to submit form. Thanks

No has enviado Solicitud de Certificación

Por favor navegue a Account > Solicitud de Certificación para enviar el formulario. Gracias

You haven't logged in.

Please login to access this page. Thanks

No has iniciado sesión.

Inicia sesión para acceder a esta página. Gracias

CONFIRM SUBMISSION

Thank you for submitting your organic certification application! OCIA looks forward to working with you.

For applicants who are new or currently under suspension, please see the end of the page for some important notes.

An estimate for your 2024 certification and inspection fees was sent with the login information. Please promptly send payment to the address on the invoice. If you are a new applicant, OCIA will not review your file until payment is received.

If you are submitting hardcopies of any supporting documents, please mail them to the address on the invoice. Failure to submit required supporting documents may lead to delays in the review.

Once a complete file is received, OCIA will complete a pre-inspection review. During this process, OCIA will contact you if additional information is needed. Please respond to any communication from OCIA in a timely manner.

Please contact OCIA International if you have any questions.

New applicants: Please be reminded that as a new applicant, your operation currently cannot label or sell product as organic. If organic certification is granted, an organic certificate will be issued and product can then be sold as organic.

For farm operations, the inspector must see your crop in the field, so check-strips must be left in all fields requested for certification if any harvest occurs prior to inspection. For hay fields, any hay harvested prior to inspection cannot be certified as organic.

For suspended operations: Please be aware that no product can be sold as “organic” while suspended and previous product is no longer “organic.” For farm operations, any crops currently in storage are no longer organic and must be sold conventionally. Only crops harvested after reinstatement, if it is granted, may be sold as “organic.” Any crops harvested from fields prior to reinstatement must be sold conventionally.

Close Window

CONFIRMAR LA SOLICITUD

¡Gracias por enviar su solicitud de certificación orgánica! OCIA espera trabajar con usted. Para los solicitantes que son nuevos o están actualmente suspendidos, consulte el final de la página para conocer información importante.

Se le envió un estimado de los honorarios de certificación e inspección 2024 con la información de inicio de sesión. Envíe puntualmente el pago a la dirección que figura en la factura. Si usted es un nuevo solicitante, OCIA no revisará su expediente hasta que se reciba el pago.

Si envía copias impresas de cualquier documento de respaldo, envíelas por correo a la dirección que figura en la factura. Se podrá producir demoras en la revisión si no se envían los documentos de respaldo necesarios,.

Una vez que se recibe un expediente completo, OCIA llevará a cabo una revisión de preinspección. Durante este proceso, OCIA se comunicará con usted si necesita información adicional. Responda a cualquier comunicación de OCIA de manera oportuna.

Póngase en contacto con OCIA International si tiene alguna pregunta.

Para los solicitantes nuevos: recuerde que, como solicitante nuevo, su operación actualmente no puede etiquetar o vender productos como orgánicos. Si se otorga la certificación orgánica, se emitirá un certificado orgánico y el producto se podrá vender como orgánico.

Para las operaciones agrícolas, el inspector debe ver su cultivo en el campo, por lo que si se produce alguna cosecha antes de la inspección, se deben dejar franjas o surcos de verificación en todos los campos solicitados para la certificación. Para los campos de heno, cualquier heno cosechado antes de la inspección no puede certificarse como orgánico.

Para operaciones suspendidas: tenga en cuenta que ningún producto puede venderse como "orgánico" mientras está suspendido y que el producto anterior ya no es "orgánico". Para las operaciones agrícolas, cualquier cultivo actualmente almacenado ya no es orgánico y debe venderse de manera convencional. Solo los cultivos cosechados después del restablecimiento, si se otorga, pueden venderse como "orgánicos". Cualquier cultivo cosechado de los campos antes de la reinstalación debe venderse de manera convencional ".

Cerrar Ventana

Submission Successful

Thank you for submitting your organic certification application! OCIA looks forward to working with you.

Close Window

Envío exitoso

¡Gracias por enviar su solicitud de certificación orgánica! OCIA espera trabajar con usted.

Cerrar Ventana

Confirm Renewal Submission

Please make sure to save all your previous year entries for your records before proceeding. By clicking “Yes, I would like to Proceed”, some entries will be reset for renewal submission.

Yes, I would like to Proceed Close Window

Confirmar envío de renovación

Asegúrese de guardar todas las entradas del año previo para sus registros antes de continuar. Al hacer clic en "Sí, me gustaría continuar", algunas entradas se restablecerán para el envío de su renovación.

Sí, me gustaría continuar Close Window

Please update Certification Application

Please make sure to update your Certfication Application before proceeding with the renewal updates.

Update now