Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP)
NOFA/Mass is proud to be a Core Partner in the Northeast Transition to Organic Partnership Program.
What is TOPP?
An investment of up to $100 million in cooperative agreements with non-profit organizations, sponsored by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. It will continue over the next five years, through October 2027.
Who benefits from this partnership?
The Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional Partnership for Organic Transition:
Connects transitioning farmers with farmer mentors
Provides community building opportunities, including workshops and field days
Creates technical assistance resources
Supports the organic workforce through training and education
Helps producers overcome technical, cultural, and financial shifts during and after organic certification
Promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in the organic sector.
Visit the PCO website for more information on our region’s program, including other NOFA chapters.
Farmers who are transitioning their operations to organic production will be paired with experienced certified organic farmers in their region. Mentors will be compensated to provide one-on-one support to the mentee farmer during transition.
Field days, workshops and other events will be held across the region to provide education on organic agronomy, certification, regulations, market and business support and other topics.
Virtual and in-person networking and resource hubs will be built to connect producers, agricultural professionals, and others.
TOPP will help build organically-focused workforce training and education to expand the supply chain’s knowledge of organic.
Farmer to Farmer Mentoring
Become a Farmer Mentor!
NOFA/Mass is currently recruiting mentor farmers that have operated certified organic farms for at at least 3 years that are interested in assisting mentee farmers as they transition their farms for certification. You do not have to be an owner of a farm to qualify as a mentor! To become a paid mentor, apply here.
The Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) is actively seeking experienced and knowledgeable certified organic producers who are passionate about organic production and interested in sharing their expertise with others. As a mentor, you will have the opportunity to guide and support producers who are transitioning to organic, providing them with valuable insights, practical advice, and industry best practices. By becoming a mentor, you will play a crucial role in helping new organic producers succeed and contribute to the growth of the organic movement in our region.
As a mentor, you will be paired with a similar producer transitioning to organic, you will have regular meetings and check-ins, and provide your expertise with organic production to help them succeed in their organic venture. This is a paid mentorship opportunity, including paid training, mentorship time, and travel time. All crop and livestock producers are welcome to apply!
Responsibilities
All mentor responsibilities can be completed in person or virtually:
● Mentor at least one producer transitioning to organic for one year, with an option to
renew mentorship annually
● Complete 5 hours of mentor training annually
● Provide 40 hours of mentorship each year (optional additional hours with additional mentees), including:
- Complete onboarding with mentee and mentorship coordinator
- Host mentee at least once on your own operation
- Visit mentee’s operation at least once
- Lead monthly meetings with mentee
- Participate in program evaluations
- Complete quarterly check-ins with the mentorship coordinator
- Answer mentee’s emails and phone calls in a timely manner
- Track mentorship hours and activities
- Recommended to attend at least one educational event with mentee
- Suggested to present at or host an educational event
Qualifications
● Owners, managers, employees, or retired producers of certified organic operations withat least 3 years of direct experience with organic certification
● Ability to fulfill the time commitment of mentorship including communication, site visits (virtual or in person), and researching solutions
● Willingness to engage in problem solving, and a desire to give-back to the organic production community
● Strong understanding of the rules, challenges, and benefits of organic production and becoming certified organic
● Open to inviting mentee and other program participants to your operation either in person or virtually
● Preferred experience in a teaching, supervising or mentor role
Benefits
● $3,000 stipend for each mentorship year you participate (additional stipend for mentors with more than one mentee)
● Applicants with language skills beyond English may be eligible for additional
compensation
● Paid professional development on professional and interpersonal skills, organic
regulations, and organic production practices
● Develop teaching and facilitation skills
● Take part in supporting the growing network of organic producers!
To Apply
Applications for the TOPP Mentorship Program will be available in July, 2023.
To become a paid mentor, apply here.
For more information about the TOPP program or to receive updates, please fill out an interest form at the USDA TOPP website.
Become a Mentee!
If you are operating a farm and would like the assistance of an experienced organic farmer during your transition to or certification as organic, we welcome you to join our group of mentee farmers.
NOFA/Mass will be connecting farmer mentors with to farmer mentees for one year. The mentorship program is expected to commence November through December, 2023. NOFA/Mass staff will assist with helping mentee farmers navigate the organic certification process.
We welcome partner non-profit or public organizations to work with NOFA/Mass and NOFA RI to provide community building opportunities, technical assistance, train-the-mentor support, workshop and field day activities covering topics including organic production practices, certification, conservation planning, business development, regulations, and marketing.
Mentee requirements and expectations:
Aspiring farmers (e.g. those who are new to agriculture) are more appropriately referred to educational resources and technical assistance. Therefore, for TOPP, mentees are transitioning producers who have existing farming operations where they are currently employees, managers, or owners.
Definition of a transitioning producer:
Transitioning producers must have at least two years’ experience owning or operating a farm (or equivalent experience), and must have existing farming operations or be employees or managers who are:
● Planning to transition an existing operation to organic,
● In the process of transitioning an operation to organic,
● Adding new organic acreage,
● Adding new scopes of organic certification,
● And/or starting a new certified organic operation.
Expectations
Transitioning producers must:
● Intend to become certified organic;
● Have the ability to fulfill the time commitment of menteeship including regular communication with the mentor and mentorship oversight organization, travel and site visits;
● Have reliable access to a means for attending site-visits;
● Have access to appropriate technology for communication as determined by the mentor/mentee communication and meetings plan, created during onboarding. Technology could include video, telephone, text, email, video communications and in-person meetings);
● Cultivate curiosity about ecological farming.
In a mentorship year, mentees will:
● Commit to 45 hours per yearly program cycle (12 months)
- Includes 2 on-farm visits per year (one at mentor farm and one at mentee farm, can be virtual if needed)
- Includes at least 3 touch points during growing season with mentor
- Includes mentee onboarding and end-of-year meetings
- Suggested attendance with mentor at 1 community farm event
● Create Mentor/Mentee agreement to support the structure of the experience.
The agreement will include:
- Communication plan (Expected modes of communication include video,
telephone, text, email, video communications and in-person meetings) - Learning objectives
- Self-certification of intent to develop an Organic System Plan
● Communicate timely and consistently with mentor and program staff.
● Participate in mid-year and year-end mentorship evaluations.
Technical Assistance
TOPP is helping NOFA/Mass provide the Technical Assistance you need to run your ideal organic farm full of biologically active soils and smooth systems. Check out our various services:
Need help with certification? Our certification specialists at NOFA/Mass can help you navigate the process and make sure you have what you need to be a certified organic farm, including your Organic Systems Plan (OSP), navigating paperwork, and keeping the right records. Look forward to an organized system that’s easy to renew each year! See more below.
NOFA/Mass offers Soil Health Technical Assistance to help farmers not only read and diagnose their soil tests, but also provides recommendations and live biological assessments.
Join us and UMass Extension in 2024 for Fundamentals in Organic workshop series with both in-person and online events where we’ll discuss certified organic soil fertility, pollinators & windbreaks, pest management, small fruit, food safety, and more!
Keep an eye out for our ongoing educational and technical assistance opportunities by subscribing to our newsletter, or visiting our Events page. We are seeking organizational partnerships in 2024 to help Massachusetts farmers increase their capacity to provide our communities with clean, healthy, affordable, organic produce. To express interest in providing Technical Assistance on the behalf of TOPP, fill out this form.
Why Certify?
Stuck on portions of the organic application for certification? New to your farm and want to start your farming career as certified organic? Don’t let the myths of organic certification prevent you from giving your customers the confidence they have come to expect in the certified organic label.
NOFA/Mass has been around for more than 30 years educating organic farming techniques and once upon a time prior to 2002 they use to certify farms as well. We leave the certifying and inspecting up to Baystate Organic Certifiers. Because they are a regulatory body, they cannot consult, educate, advise you on certification as much as they would like to. So they trained NOFA/Mass on the ins and outs of the organic system plans and enabled us to help you. Continued education with Baystate will also address any gaps in knowledge we may experience along the way. So if we don’t have the answer, rest assured we will find one.
In 2014-15 NOFA/Mass and Baystate Organic Certifiers completed some project work that was funded by the USDA Sound & Sensible program. Please check out some of our local farms and certified operations on this video.
Baystate Organic Certifiers has also authored some great “How To” Modules that will highlight specific areas of focus for transitioning.
There are many more Sound & Sensible tools that have been developed by other farming and certifying organizations throughout the country. Check out our resources page.
Questions about Organic Certification? The NOFA Summer Conference has some answers!
Community Building
Virtual and in-person networking and resource hubs will be built to connect producers, agricultural professionals, and others. Be on the lookout for more networking opportunities! Click here for the full list of events for the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic.
TOPP: Organics and Food Safety
May 1 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Organic Orchard and Berry Management for Whole Farm Health
May 11 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Manejo de huertos frutales y de bayas orgánicos para una granja saludable
May 11 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Workforce Development and Training
TOPP will help build organically-focused workforce training and education to expand the supply chain’s knowledge of organic. Keep an eye out for more updates as the program grows and expands.
Who is answering my emails?
Laura Davis is a NOFA/Mass Board Member and the Certification Assistance Coordinator and is owner and farmer at Long Life Farm in Hopkinton, MA a diversified vegetable farm that was certified organic in April 2013 by Baystate Organic Certifiers. Laura is also an Organic Inspector of farms and processors. Please see an article that appeared in the NOFA/Mass newsletter about why I chose to certify. Please email [email protected] or call 508-596-1651 with your inquiries. I look forward to hearing from you!