.
USDA Economic Research Service Data Sets
" " " "
Data Sets

Procurement and Contracting by Organic Handlers: Contract Data     

Contents
 

This data table is from the organic handlers contracts data, which provides information about the use of written and verbal contracts and common contract provisions. Contracts data include information on 9 commodity groups and 39 commodities from 686 facilities that use contracts. For more information, see the Documentation.

Make Your Selections

Commodity: 
     Download this data Download this table

All Commodities Combined in National Totals

Basic characteristics of handlers
Range of number of handlers    over 40 
Function  1/  2/ Manufacturers/processors 53%
All other functions 35%
All handlers Manufacturer/ processor All other functions
Type of contract Percent of handlers 3/
Written 73% 73% 70%
Verbal 27% 27% 30%
Compensation term used most often
Flat price 40% 40% 36%
Markup over conventional price 9% 8% 6%
Negotiated price at time of transaction 32% 34% 35%
Price based on performance relative to other suppliers 2% 2% 2%
Price determination not in contract 4% 4% 3%
Other method 10% 9% 14%
Price mechanisms in standard contract
Quantity discount 26% 26% 31%
Quality premium 27% 28% 32%
Penalties for lower than contracted quality 29% 28% 31%
Prices depend on supplier's past performance 11% 11% 10%
Method of quality measurement for pricing purposes  
Observing samples 56% 57% 57%
Testing samples 62% 66% 54%
Third-party certification 26% 28% 23%
USDA grading standards 25% 23% 29%
Downstream price 8% 5% 15%
Price does not depend on quality measures 6% 5% 6%
When suppliers are paid
Upon delivery of product, organic certificate 61% 65% 55%
At harvest 5% 4% 4%
After downstream sale 10% 7% 17%
Other 24% 24% 25%
Contract length
Seasonal 33% 31% 38%
Yearly 40% 40% 35%
Multi-year 9% 10% 10%
Other 7% 6% 8%
Time not specified 12% 13% 10%
Standard contract clauses
Automatic renewal 13% 13% 13%
Verification of organic certification 84% 87% 77%
Minimum quality standards 78% 82% 78%
Number of acres you will buy production of 25% 25% 25%
Best management practices 23% 25% 21%
Reject deliveries that don't meet specs 67% 69% 62%
Other actions if contract specs not met 42% 42% 44%
Place of delivery 67% 69% 63%
Date of delivery 58% 60% 60%
Exclusive supply 14% 11% 20%
Other 42% 42% 44%
N/A = Not available, not applicable, or not reportable for reasons of confidentiality (fewer than three respondents).
1/ Firms often reported more than one function; responses from a single firm may be reported in both the “Manufacturer/processor” and “All other functions” columns. Thus, summing across functions often exceeds 100 percent.
2/ Non-responses to all questions are not reported
3/ See the Documentation for how the percentages are calculated.
For more information, contact: Carolyn Dimitri

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Updated date: November 26, 2007