Organic Agriculture

The term "organic" was coined in the late 1930s or early 1940s by J.I. Rodale, who envisioned a farming system that uses natural and whole-system approaches to soil-building, fertility, and pest management without the use of synthetic inputs. The organic food and agriculture industry in the United States began to gain recognition in the early 1970s. Rodale Press’s Organic Gardening magazine encouraged readers to form organic organizations to promote standards and create links between farmer and consumers. Soon there were more than 70 active certification groups in the U.S. Many provided third-party verification services to assure consumers that the food had been grown and handled according to a set of standards. Across the certification groups, standards for production and labeling were similar, though not identical.

Organic farming continued to grow in popularity and was one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture during the 1990s. In Fall 2002, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) released comprehensive 2000 and 2001 data detailing organic production in all 50 states and in the nation as a whole. Between 1997 and 2001, U.S. certified acreage grew by 74.1 percent, from 1,346,558 acres to 2,344,857 acres. The largest cropland gains were seen for corn, soybeans, dry beans, corn, flax, spelt, and rice, which each grew by more than 100 percent. The largest livestock gains were seen in dairy, broiler, and layer hen production, which each added more than a million animals after USDA lifted restrictions on organic meat labeling in the late 1990s.

Farmer motivation for growing organically varies with the individual operator, and can include: lowering input costs, decreasing reliance upon non-renewable resources, receiving premium prices, accessing high-value markets, acting upon a life philosophy or stewardship ethic and operator and farm family health concerns, and improving relations with urban or suburban neighbors. Obstacles to adoption by farmers include: higher managerial costs, the increased risk that accompanies shifting to new management methods, limited awareness of organic farming systems, lack of marketing infrastructure, and an inability to capture marketing economies.

Organic agriculture produces identity-preserved products that appeal to consumers in domestic and export markets. It is the preferred practice of a growing number of U.S. producers and has the potential to increase the competitiveness of small, and medium-sized farms, in addition to large operations.