Special category report: The Rise of Organic Grains and Flours - 6

Association (OTA) and the US Organic Grain
Collaboration (USOGC) noted three key
challenges to growing more organic grain.
Those were: 1) The risk associated with the
high cost of transitioning to organic and the
uncertain market guarantee at the end of
the transition period; 2) The lack of markets
for necessary lower value rotation crops that
boost soil fertility and suppress weeds; and
3) Insufficient technical assistance and farm
management resources.
The report recommended these solutions:
1) Employ pricing and investment mechanisms;
2) Develop markets for lower value crops that
increase soil fertility and suppress weeds; and
3) Increase the number of trusted advisers and
farmer networks for organic farmers.
" It would be hard to overestimate the role of
grain in the human diet, in the advancement
of agriculture and in the development of
civilizations, " the USDA said in discussing the
OTA-USOGC report. " But while organic grain

production in the United States is growing, it
is not doing so fast enough to meet the needs
of the nation's robust and expanding organic
livestock industry, and it is not always growing
in such a way to ensure a sustainable supply
into the future. Because of that gap between
domestic output and demand, the volume of
imported organic grains has skyrocketed in
the past several years. "
While livestock producers often have
turned to imports, the flour milling industry
has met steadily growing demand for foodgrade organic grains by bringing new
domestic growers on board. Strategies have
included transitional growing programs and

Organic farms, acres and sales,
2008 to 2019
18,000
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0

Bread and grains
is a small segment
of organic foods but
continues growing
Total sales of organic bread
and grains in 2019 were $5.7
billion, up 6% from 2018.

SOURCE: Organic Trade Association

2008
Survey

Farms

2014
Survey

2016
Survey

Acres
(1,000s acres)

SOURCE: USDA Census of Agriculture

2019
Survey

Sales
($ million)

Special category report: The Rise of Organic Grains and Flours

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