Data Release: 2015 Certified Organic Survey Executive Briefing

Data Release: 2015 Certified
Organic Survey
September 15, 2016

2015 Certified Organic Survey
Survey Overview
• Program History
• Scope of Survey

Highlights of the Results
• Sales
• Marketing Channels
• Farms and Land in Farms

1

Organic Survey History
• This is the fourth iteration of an organic production and
practices survey.
• The 2011 and 2015 Certified Organic Production surveys
only collected data from certified organic operations.
• The 2008 and 2014 Organic Production surveys collected
data from three organic operation groups – certified,
exempt, and transitioning.

2

2015 Certified Organic Survey
• The 2015 Certified Organic Survey is a census of all
known U.S. farms and ranches that had certified
organic production in 2015.

• The 2015 Certified Organic Survey covers certified
organic acreage, production, sales, and marketing
practices.
• The survey included operations on NASS’s list frame.
3

Forms by Mode of Data Collection
Mail

Phone

Internet

Face to face

Face to face, 5%
Internet, 8%

Mail, 42%

Phone, 45%

4

Stakeholder Support
• Major stakeholders include:
– Organic producers, handlers and processors
– Organic certifying agencies
– Other USDA agencies

– Organic associations
– Research institutions

Statistical Significance
• In the slides that follow, you will see an asterisk (*) next to
every item that is a statistically significant change from the
2014 Organic Survey to the 2015 Certified Organic Survey.

• For this report, the measure of statistical significance is a
difference between the two surveys of two or more
standard errors.

Certified Organic Sales
and
Marketing Channels

8

Market Value of Certified Organic Agricultural
Products Sold, 2014 and 2015
2014
(billion dollars)

2015
(billion dollars)

Total Value of Agricultural
Products Sold

5.5

6.2

Value of Crops sold

3.3

3.5

Value of Livestock, Poultry and
Products sold

2.2

2.7

10

Top Five States in Total Certified Organic Sales, 2015

States
California

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)

2015
(percent of total)

2,231

2,436

40

Washington

515

626

10

Pennsylvania

313

332

5

Oregon

237

269

4

Wisconsin

200

222

4

5,451

6,163

US Total

Top States in Certified Organic Crop, 2015

States
California

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)

2015
(percent of total)

1,659

1,796

51

Washington

386

464

13

Oregon

127

163

5

Arizona

86

125

4

Florida

57

63

2

3,287

3,510

US Organic Crop
Sales

13

Certified Organic Vegetable Sales by Top Commodities,
2014 and 2015
Category
Vegetables grown in the
open

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)

1,248

1,362

Lettuce

264

262

Spinach

117

154

Tomatoes

67

87

Carrots

69

83

Broccoli

79

71

Sweet potatoes

68

71

Certified Organic Fruit Sales by Top Commodities,
2014 and 2015
Category
Fruit, Tree nuts, and berries

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)
1,032

1,203

Apples

251

302

Grapes

195

210

Strawberries

89

151

Blueberries (cultivated)

69

124

Raspberries

14

46

Almonds

32

41

Certified Organic Field Crop Sales by Top Commodities,
2014 and 2015
Category
Field crops

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)
717

660

Corn for grain

155

129

Hay

138

117

Wheat

(D)

109

Soybeans

72

63

Tobacco

N/A

50

Economic Losses Due to GMO/GE Presence,
2014 and 2015
2014
Farms with Economic
Losses
Value of Economic
Loss (dollars)

2015

31

32

$506,552

$520,671

Market Value of Certified Organic Agricultural
Products Sold, 2014 and 2015
2014
(billion dollars)

2015
(billion dollars)

Total Value of
Agricultural Products
Sold

5.5

6.2

Value of Crops sold

3.3

3.5

Value of Livestock,
Poultry and Products
sold

2.2

2.7

19

Top States in Certified Organic Livestock and Poultry
Product Sales, 2014 and 2015
States

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)

2015
(percent of total)

California

301

326

17

New York

95

156

8

Wisconsin

127

146

8

Pennsylvania

(D)

132

7

Texas

103

131

7

1,504

1,911

US Livestock and
Poultry Product Sales

Certified Organic Livestock and Poultry Products, 2014
and 2015

Category
Livestock and
poultry
products

2014
2015
(million dollars) (million dollars)

1,504

1,911

Milk

1,082

1,174

Eggs

420

732

Top States in Certified Organic Livestock and
Poultry Sales, 2014 and 2015

States

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)

2015
(percent of total)

California

271

314

42

Pennsylvania

112

138

19

Washington

(D)

41

5

Wisconsin

25

26

4

Texas

18

26

3

660

743

US Organic Sales

Certified Organic Sales by Top Livestock Commodities,
2014 and 2015

Category
Livestock and poultry sales

2014
(million dollars)

2015
(million dollars)

660

743

Broilers

371

420

All Cattle

216

233

50

70

Turkeys

Certified Organic Farms by Marketing Channel,
2014 and 2015

Marketing Channel

2014
(percent of
farms)

2015
(percent of
farms)

Direct to consumers

41

36

Direct to retail markets and institutions

25

22

Wholesale markets

69

71

25

Certified Organic Farms by First Point of Sale,
2014 and 2015

Distance from farm by first point of sale

2014
(percent of
farms)

2015
(percent of
farms)

Within 100 miles

77

75

100 – 499 miles

37

35

500 or more miles

15

14

3

3

Internationally

Certified Organic Farms
and
Certified Organic Land in Farms

27

Number of Certified Organic Farms and Land,
2014 and 2015
2014 Certified Organic 2015 Certified Organic
Survey
Survey
Total Certified Organic
Farms

12,634

12,818

Total Certified Organic
Land Acres *

3,642,933

4,361,849

* Indicates significant change

29

30

Certified Organic Survey – Key Findings
•

In 2015, the United States had 12,818 certified organic farms producing and
selling $6.2 billion in organic commodities.

•

Certified organic farms operated 4.4 million acres of certified land in 2015, up
20 percent from 2014.

•

Of the $6.2 billion in organic commodities sold, $3.5 billion, came from organic
crops, $1.9 billion was from organic livestock and poultry products, and $0.7
billion came from organic livestock and poultry.

•

Organic producers are transitioning another 151,000 acres nationally to
organic production.

•

The first point of sale for 75 percent of all U.S. organic farms and ranches was
within 100 miles from the farm.

•

U.S. certified organic farms and ranches reported selling 71 percent of their
products to customers through wholesale marketing channels.

Certified Organic Farms with Transitional Land,
2014 and 2015
2014
Certified farms with acres in transition*
Acres in transition

2015
1,272

1,530

119,458

150,880

* Indicates significant change

Survey Report Release
• Additional information can be found in a published report
available as a PDF on NASS’ website and also in NASS’ online
Quick Stats database https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov
• Please visit the Organic Agriculture page at:
https://www.nass.usda.gov/organics

NASS Organic Program
Points of contact:
Adam Cline, Census and Survey Division
202-690-8818
[email protected]
Scott Shimmin, Statistics Division
202-720-0684
[email protected]