Switzerland and the United States formed a partnership for trade in organic food and other organic products, the fifth such organic “equivalency” agreement that the U.S. has sealed with a trading partner. By recognizing each other’s organic programs as equivalent, the arrangement “will streamline organic trade, strengthen organic agriculture, benefit the growing organic community, and support jobs and businesses on a global scale,” said the USDA. The U.S. organic market is worth $39 billion in sales annually.
“The Swiss population consumes the most organic, per person, of any population in the world,” with total purchases of $2 billion in 2013, said the Organic Trade Association. The pact allows products certified as organic by Swiss or U.S. officials to be sold as organic in either country, beginning today, said the OTA. The other U.S. equivalency agreements are with the European Union, Canada, Japan and South Korea. Organic sales in those markets are worth $35 billion annually.