New Petaluma Grange to Give Boost to Small Farmers

There are a many of issues of concern to local farmers, such as maintaining farm apprentices or ending the light brown moth eradication program, in which crops are sprayed with a pesticide many consider dangerous.

Today, members of the newly formed Petaluma Grange will meet at the to discuss these and other topics at what many hope will become a forum for small farmers in Petaluma.

“Our vocation often keeps us isolated from each other,” said Suzi Grady, 30, farm manager at and one of the charter members of the grange. “Petaluma has a wonderful sense of community but there are limited opportunities for farmers to come together, learn from and share with each other.”

The grange movement began after the Civil War and was a way to help farmers find new markets, increase profit and provide a community for people who were often isolated. Petaluma had a grange for more than 100 years, but it closed in 1975 due to declining membership.

Now, young farmers like Grady are reviving the grange, which they say will help farms make bulk purchases, share materials and equipment and match a new generation of people who want to work the land with farmers seeking to retire.

For example, many want to repeal the official ban on apprentices, which the U.S. Labor Department has said is illegal unless the farm is nonprofit, but allows many small farms to stay in business. The grange helps push farmers' agenda through legislative aides and lobbyists in both Sacramento and Washington, DC.

“Our role would be to bring farmers together and there’s strength in numbers,” said Bob McFarland, president of the California Grange Association, which has 185 granges around the state and 10,000 members. “All of our legislative efforts come from grassroots organizations. Our members tell us what to do not the other way around.”

Monday’s meeting of the Petaluma Grange will be at 6:30pm at the Seed Bank. For more information, call Paul Wallace at (707) 509-5171