2 Numbers and trends in organic production

Map of number of organic farms by state.
Certified Organic Farms—States and United States 2019 Organic Survey. Source: USDA NASS Minnesota Field Office

Data in Table 1 below are from the 2019 Certified Organic Survey conducted by . Since data gathering and reporting on organic agriculture began, there has been a steady increase in farms and acres under organic production.

Table 1: Number of organic farms, organic land, cropland, and rangeland, 2008 to 2019
2008 2014 2016 2019
Farms 10,903 12,634 14,217 16,585
Organic land (1,000 acres) 4,004 3,643 5,019 5,495
Cropland 2,230 N/A 2,714 3,517
Rangeland N/A N/A 2,305 1,974

 

The data in Table 2. below,  show that sales of certified organic production continued to increase from 2016. U.S. farms and ranches produced and sold $9.9 billion in certified organic commodities in 2019, up 31% from 2016. During the same year, the number of organic farms in the country increased 17% to 16,585, and the number of certified acres increased 9% to 5.5 million (Results include those certified organic and those transitioning to organic).

Table 2: Market value of certified organic products in the U.S. from 2016 to 2019, in USD
2016 (Millions) 2019 (Millions) % Increase
Total sales 7,554 9,926 31
Crops 4,193 5,787 38
Livestock and poultry 1,157 1,663 44
Livestock and poultry products 2,205 2,476 12

While the data above includes all organic commodities, not just animals and animal products, it highlights the strong and steady growth of the organic industry. If we look solely at livestock and livestock products, the growth has been equally strong. This, in large part, can be attributed to consumer demand and matches the trends seen in the previously discussed data.

Table 3: Organic commodity, increase in sales 2016-2019 and total sales in 2019, in USD.
Organic commodity Increase in sales from 2016 to 2019 Total Sales 2019
Eggs 9% 887 M
Milk 14% 1.6 B
Hogs and pigs 17% 8.1 M
Cattle 26% 293 M
Broiler chickens 49% 1.1 B
Turkeys 67% 139 M
The growth of the antibiotic-free/organic meat movement is highlighted in an October 2019 report by a group of organizations, including the Milken Institute School of Public Health and Consumer Reports. “The fast-food industry is one of America’s largest meat and poultry buyers. Chipotle and Panera are given the highest marks for their approach to antibiotic use in beef. These large restaurants are leveraging their buying power to support antibiotic-free meat, driven by consumers who increasingly demand it.”
In 2020 the top five organic retailers were Walmart, Costo, Kroger, Target, and Safeway –  56% of organic sales were in conventional grocery store chains, club stores, and supercenters (Merrigan et al., 2021).

 

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Organic and alternative animal health - Overview by Iowa State University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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