USDA experts share organic growth, challenges, priorities

Organic sales have risen 31%, and the number of organic farms has increased 17% between 2008 and 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And organic fresh fruits and vegetables dominate the sector in U.S. production, international trade and consumer purchases.

Scientists, economists and organic experts shared their latest statistics and in-depth intelligence at the USDA’s 97th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, themed “Building on Innovation: A Pathway to Resilience.”

The Organic Outlook session, with three speakers and at least 192 attendees, was Feb. 19.

Organic is the fastest growing food category in America, and the COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on the sector as consumers drastically shifted some of their consumption and buying patterns and supply chains were challenged.

Organic vegetables do even better than fruit at retail, reaching $16 billion in sales in 2019, said Andrea Carlson, economist of the food economics division of the USDA Economic Research Service.

International trade plays a key role in organic products, she said, and customers are everywhere.

“We find that organic consumers cut across all incomes, education, age and race and ethnicities,” Carlson said. “However, younger shoppers are more represented than older shoppers, and we also find that households with young children are more represented in organic consumers.”

Strong investments in research and innovation are critical to compete with the rest of the world, meet domestic demand and solve many issues along the organic supply chain, said Mathieu Ngouajio, the national science liaison for plant systems at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Ngouajio served as a national program leader from 2013 to 2019 in the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability, where he administered competitive grant programs including the Organic Transitions, the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

Two USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture programs have helped fill the gaps in research and innovation funding, he said: the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) and Organic Transitions (ORG).

“We are seeing small and minority institutions getting more involved in organic,” Ngouajio said. “More importantly, we are seeing more projects coming from the south region.”

OREI is trying to secure funding at the level of $50 million per year, he said, to tackle several critical issues:

• Promote research and innovation;
• Explore new extension opportunities, bringing that knowledge that to farmers;
• Train the new generation of organic farmers and leaders;
• Develop smart tools for use by farmers and processors, such as seeds and natural substances for managing disease;
• Develop tools for enforcement of organic integrity to reduce fraud;
• Better understand the human dimension of organic agriculture to expand the market; and
• Ensure the knowledge is not only available, but also accessible to all farmers.

Laura Batcha, CEO and executive director of the Organic Trade Association, discussed organic supply chain patterns and consumer expectations.

California produces about 36% of the U.S. specialty crops, and organic constitutes 10% of that acreage in production, she said.

One of the sectors not captured in this data is the change in organics produced and sold at farmers markets and local markets from smaller sized farms, Batcha said. The data is not well understood, aggregated or identified as organic.

What she’s heard is that during the pandemic, “those markets shifted strongly towards CSA and delivery models for produce,” Batcha said.

Some of the most significant challenges in the marketplace for small and medium-sized operators were costs associated with the shift from foodservice to retail.

There was also the cost of implementing more technology: For ordering and managing CSAs online, apps and websites.

Even before the pandemic, the association identified workplace safety and access to a consistent workforce as key priorities, Batcha said, adopting a policy related to immigration reform that provided a pathway to citizenship.

“The organic industry is very committed to this effort, as well as advocates across the country, in terms of really calling out the need to emphasize the workforce and responding to what we’ve seen as a vulnerability as a result of the COVID pandemic,” she said.

While the organic industry has the benefit of not exposing the workforce to harmful pesticides and synthetic chemicals during the growing and harvesting, we recognize this is not enough, she said.

Another area that’s emerged in 2020 is a heightened awareness about social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion within the agriculture and food system, and how systemic racism is attached to it — historically and still today ­— in the production of food.

“So, I think social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion is an expectation that consumers have for the companies that they do business with and who produce the food they eat. That, I think, is here to stay,” Batcha said. “We’re going to see the organic marketplace respond to that in the coming year.”