Organic garlic plays a fairly small but significant role in the garlic industry.
Fresh conventional and organic sales totaled $82,373,594 for the 52-week period ending June 14, 2026, a year over year increase of 15.6%; organic garlic accounted for 12.45% dollar share of the category, according to Circana OmniMarket Integrated Fresh (Total US Multi Outlet+ with C Store).
Sales of organic garlic are trending upward, agrees Bruce Klein, director of marketing for Secaucus, N.J.-based Maurice A. Auerbach Inc., which markets its products under the AuerPak label.
He attributes sales of AuerPak brand organic garlic in part to the distinctive packaging of the company’s peeled organic garlic, which can be easily identified as organic and help avoid miss-rings at checkout. The packages also can be displayed in baskets outside the produce department, and they’re priced attractively, he adds.
I Love Produce, West Grove, Pa., offers fresh, peeled and processed organic garlic for retail and foodservice, says Samantha Snyder, director of marketing, sustainability and innovation.
Gilroy, Calif.-based Christopher Ranch has seen a surge in organic sales since the company launched its organic program about 10 years ago, says Ken Christopher, executive vice president.
“We’ve invested heavily over the last few years in making sure we can bring organic garlic to key retailers,” he says.
The company kicked off its organic deal with about 500,000 pounds, he says. Now annual production has risen to 20 million pounds — about 20% of its volume.
The company’s organic lineup includes fresh loose bulbs, peeled cloves and ready-to-use minced or chopped garlic jars. The program came about when Christopher joined the company and started asking himself, “What’s next?” he says.
“I realized that American consumers were valuing health, stability and organic above everything else,” he says. Christopher relayed his thoughts to the company’s field team, “and we built a program that just worked.”
Demand for organics was growing quickly during the 2010s and early 2020s, but it has since started to cool a bit, he says.
“We’re still seeing sustained growth, but on a more moderate scale than we saw previously,” he says.
According to The Packer’s Fresh Trends 2026 consumer survey, Gen Z respondents were the most likely to purchase organic garlic, with 28% saying they only bought organic, and 22% reporting that they purchased both organic and conventional. Only 5% of baby boomers who responded bought only organic garlic, and 10% bought organic and conventional.
It’s “trickier” and more costly to grow organic garlic than conventional product, Christopher says, but Christopher Ranch has taken steps to keep costs down.
The company has introduced “pyrotractors” that shoot fire into the fields to control weeds.
“In that way, we can control [weeds] without using traditional pesticides and herbicides,” Christopher says.
Christopher Ranch also has started using artificial intelligence with some of its tractors.
“They’re able to go in and automatically harvest fields of garlic,” Christopher says. “It’s still a prototype, but it’s exciting to see the next trend for a private, family-run American garlic company.”
There’s only so much that technology and other innovations can do to keep costs down, however.
Christopher says there likely will always be a 30% to 40% difference in the cost of organic versus conventional garlic. Nonetheless, he sees a bright future for organic garlic as Americans “think about the entire story about the food they eat.”
“It’s going to become a bigger and bigger part of our profile going forward,” he says.
