Title: Harriet Behar Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1987-2012

Creator:

• Behar, Harriet, 1954-

Call Number: Mss 1191

Quantity: 0.5 cubic feet (1 archives box and 1 oversize folder)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, 1987-2012, of Harriet Behar, organic farmer and inspector, senior organic specialist at Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), and National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) member, documenting her involvement in organic farming advocacy and education. Of note are a few early materials (1988-1991) from the Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool (CROPP), now known as Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative.

Note:

Forms part of the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Collection.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01191

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Harriet Behar was born in 1954. After attending high school in New York City, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1971-1973. She began farming organically in 1973, and her farm became a certified organic operation in 1989. Behar and her husband Aaron Brin (doing business as Sweet Springs Farm) raise chickens, keep honeybees, and grow vegetables, herbs, bedding plants, and small grains in southwestern Wisconsin.

In the 1980s Behar became active with a number of sustainable agriculture organizations, including the Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool (CROPP, later known as the Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools, and now known by one of its brand names, Organic Valley), which was established in 1988. She served as CROPP's marketing coordinator from 1989 to 1996.

Since 1989 she has also served as an independent organic inspector, visiting over two thousand farms and processing facilities during her career. She also conducted final reviews for three different certifying agencies. Behar serves as an International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA) training coordinator, and has led trainings since 1996 in the United States and Latin America, covering the crop, handling, and livestock sectors to diverse audiences with an interest in organic agriculture. She served on IOIA's board of directors from 1997 to 2003, and was chair for 2001 and 2002. She also served on the board of directors of the Organic Materials Review Institute (1999-2005). In 2001 she co-authored the Organic Trade Association's Good Organic Retailing Practices manual.

In 2003 Behar became the organic specialist at the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), where she provides answers to questions on organic production, processing, and certification via a toll-free organic information line; conducts training seminars; produces articles and other written materials; and participates as a frequent speaker/presenter at the organization's annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference.

From 2007 to 2011, she was a member of the Wisconsin Organic Advisory Council (WOAC), which advised the state Secretary of Agriculture, governor, and state agencies on aspects of organic policy and promotional efforts.

Behar currently serves on the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) as an Environmental Protection and Resource Conservation Expert (projected term: 2016 January-2020 January), and serves on committees for various organizations, including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (Research and Extension committee and Food Integrity committee), the National Organic Coalition, the Organic Trade Association, and the Wisconsin National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Technical Committee (since 2011). Since 2014 she has served as an approved NRCS Technical Service Provider writing Transition to Organic Conservation Activity Plans. Behar also leads webinars on organic agriculture and related topics for a number of organizations, including University of Wisconsin-Extension, eOrganic eXtension, NCAT, and the Farm Service Agency. On the local level, she has served as the chair of the Town of Clayton Planning Commission since 1998, and has been a member of the Crawford County Land Conservation Committee since 2008.

The papers contain partial documentation of Behar's longstanding involvement in organic and sustainable agriculture.

Of particular interest are early Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool (CROPP) materials, 1988-1991, including class handouts from an organic produce production class, minutes from two board meetings and a manager's report, a business plan, mission statement, grant proposals, newsletter, vegetable packing and storage standards, and vegetable committee materials. Later materials (when the organization was known as Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools) include a dairy pool proposal (1994) and produce and pork producer information packets from the renamed organization, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative (2007). A producer packet from a commercial organic dairy documents an example of a non-cooperative outlet for organic dairy producers.

A promotional booklet for the 2007 Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference represents one aspect of Behar's work for the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), which has also served as a sponsor for the Kickapoo Country Fair, for which two programs are included (2010, 2012).

There are no materials relating to Behar's career as an organic inspector, the WOAC, the NRCS, the NOSB, or her teaching for IOIA.

Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Publications (M2016-035)

Food Sleuth Radio Audio Recordings (Audio 1760A)

Acquisition Information

Presented by Harriet Behar, Gays Mills, Wisconsin, March 7, 2016. Accession Number: M2016-034

Processing Information

Processed by Julia Wong, April 2016.

Mss 1191 Box   1 Folder   1	Animal health, 2005, 2007, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) information packages: Sustainable Dairy Production, Sustainable Poultry Production, Herb Production and Marketing, 1990-1992
	Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool (CROPP)
Box   1 Folder   3	Board of Directors meeting minutes, 1989 April 18, September 19
Box   1 Folder   4	Business plan, 1989
Box   1 Folder   5	Commercial Organic Produce Production Class, Western Wisconsin Technical College, 1988
Box   1 Folder   6	CROPP Report: newsletter, 1991 January-February
Box   1 Folder   7	Grant/loan proposals, 1990, 1991
Box   1 Folder   8	Mission statement, undated
Box   1 Folder   9	Vegetable Committee meeting minutes, 1990 October 15, 1991 January 22
Box   1 Folder   9	Vegetable newsletter, 1990 December
Box   1 Folder   10	Vegetable grower materials (Behar), 1990-1991
Box   1 Folder   11	Vegetable packing and produce standards, 1990
Box   1 Folder   12	Produce delivered/charged invoices, 1990
	Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools (CROPP)
Box   1 Folder   12	Dairy pool proposal, 1994
Box   1 Folder   13	Produce packet, 2007
Box   1 Folder   14	Pork producer packet (Organic Prairie), 2007
Box   1 Folder   15	Horizon Organic producer packet, undated
Box   1 Folder   16	Kickapoo Country Fair programs, La Farge, Wisconsin, 2010, 2012
	Kickapoo Organic Resources Network (KORN)
Box   1 Folder   17	KORN Final Report: Vegetable grower's copy, 1992
Box   1 Folder   18	Vegetable newsletter, 1991 Fall
Box   1 Folder   19	Marketing organics, 1990-2007
Box   1 Folder   20	Organic Agriculture in Wisconsin 2007 Status Report / prepared by Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, UW-Madison Center for Dairy Profitability: draft, 2008 January 9
Box   1 Folder   21	Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) certification standards, 1990
Box   1 Folder   22	Organic Dairy 101: A Workshop for Dairy Support Professionals (Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota), St. Cloud, Minnesota, 2008 January 17
Box   1 Folder   23	Organic Trade Association's American Organic Standards Fiber: Post Harvest Handling, Processing, Record Keeping, and Labeling / compiled by Peter Murray, revised and amended by Lynn S. Coody: draft, version 6.14, 2003 December
Box   1 Folder   24	Organic Valley product information, promotional materials, packaging samples, undated
Oversize Folder	2013 calendar, CROPP Cooperative 1988-2013: Celebrating 25 Years of Cultivating Goodness, 2012
Box   1 Folder   25	Transition to organic dairy production, 2002, undated
Box   1 Folder   26	Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference (UMOFC) registration booklet, 2007
Box   1 Folder   27	Weed, insect, and disease control, 1987, undated