ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR 72702

Marketing Organic Grains (Summary)

Organic grain and oilseed markets are growing, and organic grains can be successfully marketed at premium prices. This publication focuses on food grains, oilseeds, and pulses. A brief overview of feed grain markets and marketing is included. Organic grain marketing differs from conventional grain marketing in several key ways. Producers generally benefit from contracting a large portion of their acreage before planting the crop. Relationships with buyers should be cultivated early on and be maintained by meeting expectations consistently. Premium prices are generally for delivered products, and, depending on the market and the specific buyer, they may need to be cleaned and even bagged. Generally, meeting quality standards is essential. To achieve the best prices, growers need to understand and build relationships with buyers, find markets for most of the crops in the rotation, meet quality standards, be able to store the crop if necessary, and be able to contract most of their crop to reliable buyers.

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Last Updated December 28, 2007

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Visit the NCAT Web site for more information on our sustainable agriculture projects.

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