For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page.
(by Huffington Post guest blogger Alberto Gonzalez, founder and CEO of GustOrganics.)
This is a fundamental question that, in an ideal world, we’d all be able to answer.

Knowing your farmer is about understanding his or her practices, motivations, challenges and ideas, but it’s also about transparency. Transparency in agriculture means better practices, and better practices results in better food. I truly believe that if all Americans were able to meet their farmers, we would have a much healthier population and society.

I am fortunate enough to have met many of the lovely farmers who provide the organic meats, dairy, and produce for my restaurant, GustOrganics. And a few weeks ago, I got an invitation from Organic Valley to meet organic dairy farmers Susan, Aaron, and David Hardy on their farm in Mohawk, NY.

I completely understand that most people don’t have the chance to personally meet their farmers and visit their farms; therefore, I decided to ask the Hardy family some questions and share their answers here with you. –Alberto Gonzalez

Would you say you are a farmer or you work as one?

Susan: I am a farmer! Farming is our life, not just a job to us. We live with the land, we work with the land, we take care of the land, and it is in our souls. It is who we are. It has been wonderful to bring up our family on the farm and to raise our kids that way.

Why did you go organic?

David: There are a couple of reasons. When I was younger, I went to college and learned the conventional way of farming.  Then, in the mid-’80s I started reading this magazine called The New Farm (a Rodale Institute publication), and it opened my eyes to a whole new way of farming. In 1992, we bought this farm, and 1994 we started our new adventure as dairy farmers. We wanted to go the organic route because we didn’t like chemicals and we didn’t want herbicides–we like pasture. We particularly like the concept of rotational pasture because grazing is a more natural way of farming–it’s more sustainable and better for the cows’ health. If the soil and the grass are healthy, the cow, the milk, and the people are healthy. Going organic was something that came naturally.