Organic farming grows rapidly
By Sean Ellis, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation
Thursday, September 27, 2007 5:59 PM CDT
POCATELLO, Idaho — Organic farming has been one of agriculture’s fastest-growing sectors for more than a decade. But looking at the big picture, it still accounts for only a very small piece of agriculture’s overall pie.
For example, U.S. producers dedicated more than 4 million acres of farmland n 1.7 million acres of cropland and 2.3 million acres of rangeland and pasture n to organic production systems in 2005, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
But that number, impressive when standing on its own, becomes miniscule when one considers certified organic cropland and pasture accounted for only 0.5 percent of total U.S. farmland that year.
Still, the amount of farmland certified organic in this country is growing at a rapid rate. For the first time ever, all 50 states had some certified organic farmland in 2005.
When Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, there was less than a million acres of certified organic farmland in the United States. That total had doubled by the time the U.S. Department of Agriculture implemented national organic standards in 2002.
It doubled again between 2002 and 2005.
ERS collected data from USDA-accredited state and private certification groups to calculate the extent of certified organic farmland acreage and livestock in the United States. All but the smallest organic growers (those with less than $5,000 in sales) must be certified by a state or private agency accredited under USDA’s national organic standards.
Only a tiny percentage of the nation’s top field crops n corn (0.2 percent), soybeans (0.2 percent) and wheat (0.5 percent) n were certified organic in 2005.
On the other hand, carrots (6 percent of U.S. carrot acreage), lettuce (4 percent), apples (3 percent) and other fruit and vegetable crops were more commonly organically grown in 2005.
On the livestock front, the overall organic adoption rate remains tiny, at 0.12 percent. Milk cows led the livestock category as 87,082 of the total 9.1 million milk cows in the United States were certified organic in 2005, a 0.96 percent rate.
The adoption rate for beef cows was 0.11 percent: 36,113 of the nation’s 32.9 million beef cows were certified organic in 2005.
Just 0.07 percent of the nation’s sheep and lambs (4,471 of 6.2 million) and 0.02 percent of hogs and pigs (10,018 of 61.2 million) were certified organic that year.
It may surprise many people to learn that Idaho is a major national player when it comes to organic farming.
While it’s no shocker that California led the nation with 222,557 total cropland acres certified organic in 2005, it may be a revelation to some people that Idaho ranked seventh with 81,220 acres. Ranking second through fifth were North Dakota (143,322), Montana (126,450), Minnesota (116,813), and Wisconsin (91,030). Texas was just ahead of Idaho with 87,124 acres.
Idaho ranked ninth in total rangeland and pasture certified organic, with 19,412 acres. Alaska led that category with 1.5 million acres, with Texas (241,353), California (124,026), Montana (103,433), and Wyoming (66,290) finishing out the top five.
“It’s beginning to be such a lucrative market,” said Travis Jones, executive director of the Idaho Grain Producers Association. “It’s growing pretty rapidly, and then some. We’re going to see more of that for this state, I think.”
In Idaho, hay and milk cows lead the way in the organic category. Not surprisingly, a rapid increase in the number of certified organic dairy cows in Idaho is leading to an equally large surge in organic feed, particularly hay.
“I think there’s more organic hay produced in Idaho than anywhere else in the country,” said Lou Andersen, director of the Idaho Organic Feed Growers Association. The increase in organic dairy cows “is what’s driving the growth in demand for organic hay.”
There are more than 6,300 organic milk cows in Idaho, according to Marv Patten, section manager for the Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Dairy and Eggs.
There are also a substantial number going through the certification process. If all those cows meet the certification process, that number could double or triple, Patten adds.
Organic livestock numbers can grow quicker than crop numbers because the transition period for certification is shorter.
While it takes up to three years to transition to organic cropland, you can transition a herd of milk cows to organic in basically 12 months, Andersen said.
According to ERS data, a total of 49,497 acres of alfalfa hay were certified organic in Idaho in 2005, though that number has almost certainly climbed substantially since then because of the swelling number of organic dairy cows.
Andersen said the demand for organic hay in Idaho has grown considerably recently. Ten years ago, he dealt with about 20,000 tons of organic hay per year for organic dairies; last year, he handled 70,000 tons. The biggest increase has occurred in the past couple of years, he added, and he doesn’t see it slowing down soon.
Andersen said people in the organic milk industry have told him “the demand for organic dairy products has increased 20-25 percent the last two years.”
Patten estimates about 85 percent of total organic cropland acres in Idaho are dedicated to the dairy industry.
USDA says obstacles that keep farmers from going organic include high managerial costs and the risks of shifting to a new way of farming, limited awareness of organic farming systems, lack of marketing and infrastructure, and an inability to capture marketing economies.
Benefits of going organic include lower input costs, conserving non-renewable resources, capturing high-value markets, and boosting farm income.
In 1995, a total of 638,500 acres of cropland in the United States were certified organic. That total increased to 1.72 million acres in 2005. Total pasture and rangeland certified organic grew from 276,300 acres in 1995 to 2.33 million acres in 2005.
The number of livestock certified organic rose from 18,513 in 1995 to 196,506 in 2005. Broken down, organic beef cows went from 4,429 to 36,113, and organic milk cows went from 12,897 to 87,082.
Sean Ellis is publications editor for Idaho Farm Bureau Federation.
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