Six months to sow ideas for voluntary organic checkoff
Rebuffed by the Trump administration, the Organic Trade Association turned to the public on Monday for ideas on how to design a voluntary checkoff program to raise research-and-promotion money for the sector and where to put the money. "The need for more investment in organic is widely agreed upon," said OTA chief executive Laura Batcha.
Organic food sales rise by 6.4 percent in a year
Americans purchased a record $45.2 billion worth of organic food last year - half of it in fruit, vegetables, dairy and eggs - as organics took a still-larger share of U.S. spending on food, said a survey commissioned by the Organic Trade Association. Sales of organic food more than doubled in the past decade and now account for 5.5 percent of grocery sales.
Organic checkoff goes on the back burner
The industry proposal for a checkoff program to support organic food and products is moving so slowly at USDA that the Obama administration will probably leave office before producers vote on it. The Organic Trade Association submitted its proposal in May 2015 and as recently as this summer hoped for a referendum this year to establish the producer-funded research and promotion program.
GMO disclosure bill divides organic food community
The fractious organic food industry is deeply divided over the GMO disclosure bill nearing a vote in the Senate, says a blog post by Carey Gillam in Huffington Post, with the influential Organic Trade Association supporting it while opponents include the Rodale and Cornucopia institutes. "The bitterness runs so deep that some players are now pulling out of a two-day summit scheduled for July that is supposed to build consensus around GMO issues, sources said."
Organic food keeps price premium as market grows
Shoppers paid a premium of more than 20 percent for organic foods from 2004-10 while the market for organic groceries was blossoming, says a USDA study, with consumers likely to spend more for products, such as milk and baby food, fed to children. Price premiums cut both ways: they encourage growers to expand production but if they are too high, they diminish the market for the goods.
Organic sales leap 11 percent in one year for another sales record
Thanks to seemingly unquenchable consumer demand, the U.S. organic industry tallied sales of $43.3 billion in 2015, up 11 percent from the previous year and the latest in a string of records.
New crop insurance provision will aid transition to organic farming
It takes three years for farmers to transition a farm from conventional agriculture to certified organic production, a substantial hurdle. To make the transition a bit easier, USDA is expanding the Contract Price Addendum for crop insurance.
Fastest growth rate for organic product sales in five years
Americans spent $35.1 billion on organic products, the bulk of it for food, last year, the fastest growth rate in five years, says the Organic Trade Association, based on a survey of more than 200 companies. Sales were up 11.5 percent, or $4 billion, from the previous year.