David James Engel was born on August 9, 1951 in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Bismarck High School in North Dakota and attended Antioch College in Ohio. In 1981 Engel and his wife Marta Engel, a veterinarian, established an organic dairy farm in southwestern Wisconsin with a small herd of Jerseys, while also growing their own feed grain. By 1986, the Engels stopped using antibiotics on the farm, often using homeopathy to manage the health of their herd. The farm became a certified organic operation in 1988.
In 1988 Engel was a founding member of two organic agriculture organizations: Wisconsin Chapter #1 of the Organic Crop Improvement Association (WI OCIA), which offered organic education and certification programs, and the Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool (CROPP Cooperative, later known as Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools, to reflect its regional marketing focus). The Educational Fund of WI OCIA Chapter #1 later became the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), while CROPP Cooperative is known by its primary brand name, Organic Valley, a farmer-owned marketing cooperative based in La Farge, Wisconsin. In its early days, CROPP itself was a non-farm chapter member of WI OCIA #1, and there was member overlap between the two groups. David Engel became secretary for WI OCIA #1 in 1989, and in addition served as the membership contact, the chair of its Certification Committee, and member (with Marta Engel) of its Education Committee. He was also a member of the International Certification Committee of OCIA International, and represented the local chapter at international meetings. He served as secretary (1993-1994) and president (1994) of OCIA International. During 1988 to 1990, Engel also served on the Board of Directors of another newly formed farmers' organization, the Wisconsin Organic Growers Association (WOGA).
In 1999 Engel founded the Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA), which offered organic certification services for the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio. Engel served as program director and then executive director (spring 2001 to May 2005) for MOSA, which became a USDA accredited certification agent in April 2002. He also served on the board of directors of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), and as the secretary of the Accredited Certifiers Association.
In March 2004, Engel participated in the Organic Roundtable Discussion convened by Governor Jim Doyle, and in September was appointed to the Governor's Organic Task Force, which met on four occasions: October 20, 2004; November 17, 2004; December 2, 2004; and January 12, 2005. The four key Organic Task Force recommendations were the establishment of an infrastructure consisting of a permanent advisory council, an inter-agency implementation team, an organic specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), and an organic specialist within the University of Wisconsin System.
At the end of 2006 Engel was invited to serve on the newly formed Wisconsin Organic Agriculture Advisory Council, a twelve-member standing committee appointed by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) as one of three at-large representatives (the council also included three organic farmers, three organic businesspeople, and consumer, non-profit, and certification representatives). He served two three-year terms, from 2007 to 2012.
Engel founded and served as Executive Director of Nature's International Certification Services (NICS, since 2011?), an organic certification agency located in Viroqua, Wisconsin. David and Marta Engel's sons, Josh and Noah Engel, operate Driftless Organics, an organic farm in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, with another farmer, Mike Lind.
David Engel died on March 14, 2017 in Viroqua, Wisconsin.
