The `organic' label doesn't come easily.(Chicago Tribune)

Standing in his central Illinois field, Henry Brockman looks every part the small-scale farmer. His arms glisten with sweat. A sun-deflecting flap hangs from the back of his worn ballcap. His two sons are standing close, the older one tamping down mulch.

But Brockman is more than what he appears to be. He is perhaps above all an educator. On an intensely sunny Monday afternoon in August, Brockman is talking about the equally intense business of organic farming. That's especially true here in agribusiness country, where fields are filled with perfect (and chemically sprayed) rows of corn and soybeans.

"Most of our weeding is hand work," said Brockman, 38, who has grown 400 types of vegetables and herbs on family land for 10 years. "People ask how organic farmers get rid of weeds. …