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The U.S. organic farm sector has a broad mix of farm
sizes and production specialties, and includes many
farms that manage both conventional and organic crops
and livestock operations as they transition into organic
production.
- Every State in the U.S. had some organic agriculture
by 2005.
- The organic farm sector is diverse, with both small-scale
operations marketing directly to consumers, and large-scale
operations targeting national and international markets.
- The organic fruit and vegetable sector has the highest
level of adoption, but many organic production specialties,
including dairy and poultry, are expanding rapidly.
Certified Organic Acres and Livestock Continue To
Climb
U.S. farmland under organic management has grown steadily
for the last decade as farmers strive to meet consumer
demand in both local and national markets. U.S. certified
organic crop acreage more than doubled between 1992 and
1997, and doubled again between 1997 and 2005. Organic
fruit and vegetable crop acreage, along with acreage used
for hay and silage crops, expanded steadily between 1997
and 2005. However, most of the acreage increase for organic
grain and oilseed crops took place early in this period,
and organic soybean acreage has declined substantially
since 2001.
| U.S. certified
organic farmland acreage, livestock numbers, and farm
operations, 1997, 2003, and 2005 |
| Item |
1997 |
2003 |
2005 |
Change 1997-2005 |
| U.S. certified
farmland: |
| |
Acres |
Percent |
| Total |
1,346,558 |
2,196,874 |
4,054,429 |
201 |
| |
Pasture/rangeland |
496,385 |
745,273 |
2,331,158 |
370 |
| |
Cropland |
850,173 |
1,451,601 |
1,723,271 |
103 |
| U.S. certified animals: |
| |
Number |
Percent |
| Total livestock 1/ |
18,513 |
124,346 |
196,506 |
961 |
| |
Beef cows |
4,429 |
27,285 |
36,113 |
715 |
| |
Milk cows |
12,897 |
74,435 |
87,082 |
575 |
| |
Hogs and pigs |
482 |
6,564 |
10,108 |
1,997 |
| |
Sheep and lambs |
705 |
4,561 |
4,471 |
534 |
| Total poultry 2/ |
798,250 |
8,780,152 |
13,757,270 |
1,623 |
| |
Layer hens |
537,826 |
1,591,181 |
2,415,056 |
349 |
| |
Broilers |
38,285 |
6,301,014 |
10,405,879 |
27,080 |
| |
Turkeys |
750 |
217,353 |
144,086 |
19,111 |
| Total certified
operations* |
| |
Number |
| All operations |
5,021 |
8,035 |
8,493 |
69 |
1/ Total livestock
includes other and unclassified animals.
2/ Total
poultry includes other and unclassified animals.
*Number
does not include subcontracted organic operations.
Note:
Numbers
may not add due to rounding.
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California had more certified operations than any other
State, with just over 1,900 operations in 2005, up 20
percent from the previous year. Wisconsin, Washington,
Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
and Maine rounded out the top 10. Many of these States
have a high proportion of farms with fruits and vegetables
and other specialty crops. Also, some of these States,
particularly in the Northeast, have relatively little
cropland but a large concentration of market gardeners.
While adoption of organic farming systems showed strong
gains between 1992 and 2005 and the adoption rate remains
high, the overall adoption level is still low—only about
0.5 percent of all U.S. cropland and 0.5 percent of all
U.S. pasture was certified organic in 2005. Obstacles
to adoption by farmers include high managerial costs
and risks of shifting to a new way of farming, limited
awareness of organic farming systems, lack of marketing
and infrastructure, and inability to capture marketing
economies. Still, many U.S. producers are embracing organic
farming in order to lower input costs, conserve nonrenewable
resources, capture high-value markets, and boost farm
income.
See more data on organic production from ERS.
See related readings
on organic farming.
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