3 Reasons Why Amish Food ISN’T Organic

As we enter the prime season for fresh produce, I thought this might be a good topic to address. I suspect most in the public would assume that Amish-grown food (and dairy) is organic, although that’s not really the case.

There are certainly organic farmers among the Amish. And organic farming has grown in popularity over the past years and decades.

However, the “default” or “traditional” way of agriculture for most Amish is conventional farming, i.e., with chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Below I explain three reasons why more Amish aren’t farming organically – and look at how some Amish organic farmers succeed. Keep reading for more, or check out the video above.

The Amish & Organic Farming: Myths & Realities

So contrary to belief, most Amish farms are not organic farms. And we tend to think that the Amish do things always in sort of an old-fashioned way.

And for certain things – for instance their general approach to technology, or their cultural values – you could say that it’s true.

Photo: Don Burke

But the fact is that most Amish farmers are using fertilizer and pesticides, and so they’d be conventional farms.

This is another thing that goes against the popular assumption of who and what the Amish are. In fact, the Amish have a tradition, so to speak, of conventional farming.

The Appeal of Organic Farming to the Amish

Now, that said, there are a good number of Amish that do farm organically. In other words, without pesticides, without chemical fertilizers. One of my good friends is an organic produce farmer in Pennsylvania.

Organic farming – organic produce farming, or even organic dairy – is attractive to some Amish for different reasons. One is that it can be seen as more affordable and realistic to get started in organic farming – at least from the land standpoint.

Especially in places where farmland has become very expensive, like Lancaster County, where you can’t afford a traditional dairy farm of 60-80 acres. Instead, you can make a living raising organic produce on just a fraction of that – even, say four to six acres.

When land prices are so high in that community, you can see the appeal of organic farming there. And there are at least one or two organic farming co-ops in that community, as there are in other places, and a good number of organic farmers among the Amish there.

Why aren’t there more Amish organic farmers? Three Reasons

So I asked one of my Amish friends, “why is it that more Amish are not organic farming?” Even though the trend has gone in that direction in recent years. He said there are a couple of reasons – which I can confirm hearing from other Amish as well.

1. Cost & Time to be certified “Organic”

One of them was the cost and the process of converting a farm from conventional farming to organic farming. So that’s a three-year conversion process.

And it’s kind of a barrier to entry, so to speak, because some farms may suffer a production decrease in that period, and they’re not going to be making as much money. So that can turn off some people from becoming organic.

2. The Power of “Tradition”

The other reason he gave, and this alludes to what I mentioned earlier, is that there is the inertia of tradition in some sense.

Photo: Don Burke

When “conventional” is the way your father farmed, and your grandfather farmed, then it’s kind of hard to break that tradition. “Now I’m going to be doing it a different way, from the way my dad did.” That can discourage some people.

3. The perception that organic farming is not as profitable

Finally, there also may be a fear that you can’t do as well in organic farming.

That at least is/was a view that has existed for quite some time. However, I don’t know if that hasn’t changed in recent years, as the popularity of organic produce has grown.

You can also use, of course, the power of the co-op to leverage your efforts as an organic farmer.

In a typical co-op, you have dozens of farmers. I’m thinking of one co-op in Lancaster County, certain farmers grow certain crops. So this guy might grow kale – and that guy might grow romaine lettuce heads – and this one’s raising heirloom tomatoes.

When it’s very well-organized like that, you can, in some cases, reach bigger and more distant – and more profitable markets – for example, even selling to pretty fancy restaurants in large cities in the East Coast, as some of these places do.

So that perception may be fading with the individual success of farmers and the co-ops as a whole.

Why Organic Farming is a good fit for the Amish

In some ways, organic farming simply “fits” the Amish. For one, it’s a more labor-intensive type of farming.

The Amish usually have good access to labor with their large families, and they want their children to have something to do. Teaching them the value of work from a young age is important.

It also kind of fits with what the public perceives the Amish to be – as a sort of “all-natural” people (to what degree they actually fit that perception is another discussion). So the sheer marketing aspect of it matches up with people’s views of the Amish there.

But at least for the time being, the majority of Amish farms are not organic – although the trend seems to be going more in that direction.

My experience of “Amish organic”

When in Lancaster County, I stay with Amish friends on an organic produce farm. So of course I partake of the delicious veggies- (and sometimes even pick a few) heirloom tomatoes, romaine lettuce, spinach and squash.

Taste-wise the stuff is hard to beat. However when not on the farm I rarely consume organic products. Price is one factor, but that’s not all there is to it.

Organic food seems to be one of those things where the people who are into it, are INTO it. Disciples, enthusiasts, evangelists – in any case something beyond mere consumers.

Photo: Don Burke

Case in point: my friend took me to a picnic sponsored by his co-op a couple weekends ago. The event, which took place on an Amish farm, was held on behalf of the co-op’s CSA (community supported agriculture) customers. Most were from New York or Washington DC, having made the long journey by car and hired coach.

After a tasty pot-luck lunch, the Amish growers, 20 or so, lined up to take questions from the crowd. People asked about the origins of seeds and whether a certain wholesome-but-exotic plant could be grown and whether more of the packaging could be biodegradable and so on. Clearly health and the environment were chief concerns for the urban visitors.

There was a lot of appreciation-and for lack of a better term-something like wonder radiating out from the audience to the assembled farmers and their families. And on that note another plus mentioned, both by the growers and customers, was the idea of community, and in particular supporting the small farming lifestyle (the Amish farmers, understandably, were big on that last point). Above all there was a sense of being a part of someting bigger than vegetables.

But while I appreciate organic food-if only for the fact that it helps my friends make a living- I’ve just never been able to get that excited about it. Not in any passionate way, in any case.

Perhaps I don’t care enough about the environment, or “sustainable practices” (a term I see widely applied, everywhere from farming to heavy industry to the corporate world, but am still not quite sure what it means). Or maybe I’m not sold on the health benefits (or the inverse of that-I’m not convinced my regular old conventional produce is doing me any harm).

I don’t mean to sound like an organic agnostic, but I think that’s what I might be.

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4 Comments

  1. Nadege Armour

    I also imagine that even with the 3-5 year process, there are still barriers. The Amish are not keen on government involvement. So being an organic farmer would probably consist of periodic visits, inspections and most importantly actions that may demand more modernity than they would like.

  2. Brian Mast

    I believe you are correct!

    I have Amish ancestry, but I moved several states away as a child in the late ’70’s. Prior to my move from northern Indiana: I witnessed Amish relatives having chicken houses having 3-4 laying chickens per tiny cage and I oftentimes helped my cousins collect those eggs. Some of the Amish in my home area back then were still trying to milk cows and store milk for collection the old fashioned way: hand milking cow utters into very clean buckets with the cow ankles being chained to protect said bucket from being kicked over, pouring the milk into big funnels with a flat paper filter in the bottom of it into cream cans, and a non-Amish guy in a truck coming around to heft up those cans into a refrigerated truck to deliver to a creamery. Some others of them (different church group) had automatic milkers including containers designed to hold all of the milk one cow might produce.
    How does my account of ancient (to you) history relevant to todays Amish? Patterns! Their religion rejects modern trends as much as religiously possible; yet they must earn money to feed their families like everyone else.
    I greatly admire my (now distant) Amish relatives, and I believe some of their choices to have been very wise over the years, but I would never accept their religion.

  3. Reziac

    My inner chemist wants to know where the inorganic farming is. 😉

    1. I guess the names we end up with don’t always make the most sense. Football, a game where feet rarely touch the ball 😀