By TOM KANE

COCHECTON - When John Gorzynski of Cochecton began selling his organic farm products at the Union Square Saturday Farmers' Market in Manhattan 21 years ago, he was one of only two organic farmers. Today, there are over 40.

"It's phenomenal," Gorzynski said. "People are growing more and more conscious of the value of organic products, even here in Sullivan County."

There are three organic farms in the county: Gorzynski's on Route 52 near Cochecton Center, Neal Fitzgerald's River Brook Farm on Route 97 in Cochecton and Wes and Amy Gillingham's farm on Route 52 outside Jeffersonville.

Gorzynski, 47, who is President of the Sullivan County Area Farmers' Market Association and of the Sullivan County Farm Bureau, devotes about 20 of his 52 acres to farming. He grows 140 types of vegetables and 60 types of fruit including apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, black currants, cherries and raspberries. "We also carry about 20 different varieties of herbs, like dill, oregano, fennel, rosemary and such," he said.

All of it organically grown: no chemicals, no herbicides, no pesticides.

"Since the coming of big agribusiness farms, the use of herbicides and pesticides is growing rapidly," he said. "There's a lot of concern now about the long-term effect of these chemicals on our bodies, especially on children."

There have been few studies on the effects of food toxicity on young children.

Consumer Union, a magazine that has no commercial ties with big industry and is a watch dog over industry products, states that high quantities of toxins are present on apples, pears and peaches and recommends peeling the skin before feeding to children.

"You're safe from toxins if you eat organic produce; that's the main motivation," Gorzynski said.

He is assisted by a 19-year-old apprentice, Regina Christiansen, who has now spent three summers working on his farm. "I've had about 20 apprentices over the years and most of them have gone on to be organic farmers themselves," he said.

Locally, Gorzynski sells his products at the Liberty Farmers' Market on Friday afternoons during the summer and will join vendors at the Callicoon Farmers' Market held Sundays between July 2 and Labor Day. He'll be at the early autumn Bethel Farmer's Market on the Day in the Garden property beginning on September 3 from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m.

His stand at the farm on Route 52 is open Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Neal Fitzgerald's farm, the River Brook Farm, a few miles away from Gorzynski's farm, has about 15 acres committed to organic farming.

"We grow about 50 varieties of vegetables and sell them at the Liberty Farmers' Market on Friday afternoons, in Honesdale on Saturday mornings at 10:00 a.m. and the Callicoon Farmers' Market beginning July 2."

He will also participate in the Bethel Farmer's Market on September 3.

Fitzgerald and his apprentice, Anne Patterson, 21, a recent college graduate, sell eggs, sheep and Emus. Emus are ostrich-like birds whose meat is similar to beef but without the cholesterol.

"What's different about organic farming is that the conventional farmer focuses on the plant while the organic farmer focuses on the soil," Fitzgerald said. Organic farmers also avoid row cropping-planting one row of a crop next to another on the same field-which harms the soil when done year after year.

"You build up pests when you do that," Fitzgerald explained, "so what a farmer has to do to counteract that is to spread chemicals, pesticides and herbicides-things that in the long run will drain the soil." Today, large agribusiness farms are spreading enormous quantities of these chemicals in order to get big crops, Fitzgerald said.

"If they keep doing that, it's going to come back to haunt us sooner than later," Fitzgerald said. "We're going to eventually find the soil will just quit."

[Tom Kane will continue his series on organic farming in next week's edition of 'Focus on Farming.']