{"id":68863,"date":"2026-09-09T19:42:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccof.org\/?p=68863"},"modified":"2026-09-09T19:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:42:58","slug":"topp-success-story-nate-and-tara-stireman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccof.org\/es\/news\/topp-success-story-nate-and-tara-stireman\/","title":{"rendered":"Historia de \u00e9xito de TOPP: Nate y Tara Stireman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nate Stireman and co-founder Tara Stireman created Steep Mountain Farm in Wellsville, Utah, in the fall of 2015 with a dream of starting an agriculture project centered around ecosystem and community: \u201cOur primary land goal is to maintain a low-tech, closed-loop bio-diverse system where nutrients are cycled with rotational crops and animal management strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the help of the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP), Steep Mountain Farm is transitioning to USDA-certified organic production.<\/p>\n<p>TOPP is a nationwide USDA initiative to provide mentorship, technical\u202fassistance, and wrap-around support to transitioning and existing organic producers. Through TOPP, the CCOF Foundation leads the Western &amp; Southwestern Regional Center for Organic Transition, working with a coalition of partners to support producers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Transitioning to organic certification isn\u2019t a huge leap for Steep Mountain Farm. \u201cOur farming practices are already practically organic, and we don\u2019t use many external inputs, so we haven\u2019t had to do much differently there,\u201d Stireman explains. \u201cThe most helpful part [of mentorship through TOPP] has been with the documentation and recordkeeping. That part\u2019s a big change. It\u2019s good to have a guide and templates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TOPP also offers a mentorship program, which connects producers seeking organic certification with experienced mentor producers. When Michele Schahczenski, the Organic Outreach Coordinator\u00a0for TOPP at Utah State University, reached out to the Stiremans about participating in the program, she also connected their farm with a nearby organic farm. \u201cWe got to work with Bill and Penny at First Frost Farm, who are great,\u201d Stireman says. \u201cThey\u2019re one of the longer-certified organic farms in Utah. They\u2019ve helped with all the requirements for documentation, like weighing seeds, keeping seed inventory, sourcing organic seed, weighing stock when they come out of the field, just detailed info about where you need to keep records and track things. Little things I wasn\u2019t aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While navigating new paperwork can be a challenge, Stireman also sees a silver lining. \u201cAside from just being certified organic, this process lights a fire under us to plan better. It really helps with planning and forecasting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The incentives that programs like TOPP offer can be the determining factor in whether many farms decide to pursue organic certification. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019ve never been one for labels to matter, since we sell direct to consumers and people who know our practices already trust us,\u201d Stireman says. \u201cIt\u2019s probably not something I would have got up and proposed on my own, but the fact that Michele reached out and laid it in our laps, we said, okay, yeah, this actually makes sense to go the extra mile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stireman also sees a benefit in the extra opportunities organic farms can be eligible for through programs like TOPP. \u201cUtah State has programs that would be able to use us more for research if we were certified organic, as well as for internship programs,\u201d he points out. Steep Mountain Farm has also been able to find compensation for hosting interns through TOPP, as well as attending workshops and meetings to collaborate and share resources within the local farming community. \u201cWe got to host a TOPP event on our farm,\u201d he says. \u201cA whole bunch of other farmers came, and people who were interested in organic farming. There was good food. It was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although TOPP is ending this year, Stireman appreciates the assistance and funding opportunities it offered. \u201cFinances shouldn\u2019t be a barrier to going organic,\u201d he says. \u201cMy personal view is that we\u2019re doing all the work to prove we have good practices, but it should be the conventional people having to explain why they\u2019re <em>not<\/em> organic. It\u2019s a reverse standard. Organic should be the standard. But it\u2019s where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccof.org\/foundation\/transition-to-organic-partnership-program\/\">Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP)<\/a>\u00a0is a nationwide initiative supporting transitioning and existing organic producers across six geographic regions of the U.S. (including the West\/Southwest region led by the CCOF Foundation).<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Want\u202fto support the next generation of organic growers?\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccof.org\/foundation\/donate\">Donate to the CCOF Foundation.<\/a>\u202f Our organic transition grants provide funding, 1:1 organic technical assistance, access to mentorship, and business training opportunities to farmers transitioning to organic over a three-year period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nate Stireman y la cofundadora Tara Stireman crearon Steep Mountain Farm en Wellsville, Utah,\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":68864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"0","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"68673,68744,68697,53534,55674,33974,67382,66919,56480,64335","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"class_list":["post-68863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation-news","certification_topics-transition-to-organic","foundation_topics-grants"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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