California, a Leader in Organic Sales

With California Ag Today, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

Who leads the nation in organically produced agricultural commodities sold from farms? It’s us, California! We do!

As further analysis goes into the 2022 Census of Agriculture, we’re now seeing the numbers play out.

In 2022, U.S. organic sales reached $9.6 billion, almost $1 billion more than in 2017, when adjusted for inflation. Organic sales are highly concentrated along the West Coast, particularly in California, which had more than $3.7 billion in organic sales in ‘22, almost 40 percent of the Nation’s organic sales. Organic sales in California increased by 12 percent when adjusted for inflation from 2017 to 2022.

Other geographies with high concentrations included the upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions, southeast Pennsylvania, and central North Carolina.

Just a note that here in California, your organic operation does need to be certified by an independent third party dependent upon value of sales. There are some exceptions. For all the details, head to https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/organicprogram/