Because the power that feeds and nourishes the inhabitants, agriculture is likely one of the most significant industries within the U.S. economic system. To accommodate the nation’s progress over time, agricultural practices have advanced to develop into extra environment friendly, able to reliably assembly the inhabitants’s every day wants.
However these environment friendly practices additionally include environmental prices, and lots of farmers and shoppers are more and more in search of out extra sustainable alternate options.
Organic farming is an strategy to agriculture that makes an attempt to imitate nature and pure processes when elevating crops and livestock.
Slightly than utilizing methods of large-scale industrial agriculture, like genetic modifications, monoculture farming, and artificial fertilizers and pesticides, natural farmers search to preserve biodiversity and pure assets on their farmland.
Natural merchandise have seen a growth in demand in recent times, and there are a selection of the explanation why shoppers is perhaps in search of out natural merchandise.
Natural methods enchantment to environmentalist shoppers who worth a extra sustainable approach to agriculture that promotes biodiversity, limits air pollution, and will increase carbon seize.
For meat and dairy shoppers, livestock manufacturing on natural farms is taken into account to be a extra moral and humane method to increase animals as a result of they’re given extra entry to the outside, higher feed, and fewer hormones and antibiotics.
Well being-conscious shoppers can level to proof that natural merchandise have health benefits like larger nutrient density and decrease ranges of poisonous metals and pesticide residue than standard agricultural merchandise.
Regardless of the causes, natural farming has elevated considerably during the last decade or so. In 2008, the U.S. had 10,903 natural farms protecting round 4 million acres of farmland. In 2019, there have been almost 16,500 natural farms on 5.5 million acres.
And these farms have grown alongside shopper demand: the gross sales of natural merchandise have greater than tripled over the identical span, rising from $3.1 billion to $9.9 billion.
Inside the almost $10 billion natural meals market, milk, rooster, and eggs are the top-selling merchandise.
Natural milk leads all merchandise with gross sales of greater than $1.5 billion per 12 months, whereas rooster sees $1.1 billion in gross sales yearly and eggs generate $887 million. Apples are the top-selling type of natural produce, with $475 million in annual gross sales.
Whereas the natural farming trade has seen large progress, not all farmers are adopting natural practices. Many large-scale agricultural operations within the Midwest and South have comparatively low numbers of natural farms and acreage dedicated to such operations.
However one location the place natural agriculture has taken maintain deeply is California. California is residence to greater than 3,000 natural farms — greater than twice the next-highest state — and the full acreage of natural farms within the state totals almost 1 million acres.
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California is the nation’s top state for agricultural sales total, so it’s unsurprising that the state can be the chief in natural manufacturing.
In relative phrases, a number of different states commit a larger share of their farmland to natural farming than California, the place natural farms symbolize solely about 4% of the state’s agricultural acreage. As an alternative, the record of high states for natural farms on a relative foundation is led by northeastern states together with Maine, New York, and Vermont — the runaway chief, the place natural acreage accounts for almost 17% of its complete.
The info used on this evaluation is from the USDA. To establish the states with essentially the most natural farms, researchers at Commodity.com calculated the full licensed natural acres operated as a share of complete farmland in every state.
Within the occasion of a tie, the state with the larger variety of natural farms as a share of complete farms was ranked larger. Solely states with obtainable knowledge from the USDA had been included within the evaluation.
Listed below are the states with essentially the most natural farms.
States Allocating the Most Farmland to Natural Manufacturing
15. Ohio
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 0.82%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.01%
- Whole natural acreage: 111,920
- Whole natural farms: 785
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $116,999,000
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14. Maryland
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 0.86%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 0.97%
- Whole natural acreage: 17,196
- Whole natural farms: 120
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $50,080,000
13. Utah
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 0.88%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 0.27%
- Whole natural acreage: 94,591
- Whole natural farms: 48
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $26,903,000
12. Oregon
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.24%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.22%
- Whole natural acreage: 196,045
- Whole natural farms: 455
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $454,406,000
11. Michigan
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.25%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.15%
- Whole natural acreage: 122,253
- Whole natural farms: 541
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $230,955,000
10. Pennsylvania
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.47%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.79%
- Whole natural acreage: 107,550
- Whole natural farms: 944
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $741,764,000
9. Idaho
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.57%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 0.98%
- Whole natural acreage: 180,732
- Whole natural farms: 240
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $205,968,000
8. Nevada
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.60%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.19%
- Whole natural acreage: 97,868
- Whole natural farms: 40
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $66,803,000
7. Massachusetts
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.63%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.85%
- Whole natural acreage: 8,170
- Whole natural farms: 133
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $32,895,000
6. Wisconsin
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 1.75%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 2.10%
- Whole natural acreage: 250,940
- Whole natural farms: 1,364
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $268,921,000
5. New Hampshire
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 2.72%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 1.95%
- Whole natural acreage: 11,708
- Whole natural farms: 80
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $11,274,000
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4. California
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 3.97%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 4.31%
- Whole natural acreage: 965,257
- Whole natural farms: 3,012
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $3,596,923,000
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3. Maine
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 4.25%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 6.00%
- Whole natural acreage: 55,261
- Whole natural farms: 456
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $63,820,000
2. New York
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 4.68%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 3.96%
- Whole natural acreage: 323,081
- Whole natural farms: 1,321
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $298,420,000
1. Vermont
- Natural acreage as a share of complete: 16.92%
- Natural farms as a share of complete: 9.63%
- Whole natural acreage: 203,002
- Whole natural farms: 655
- Whole worth of natural merchandise bought: $159,742,000
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As natural farming grows within the US, as could the export of natural agricultural produce. China, Canada, and Mexico presently lead the record of nations that import US agricultural produce.
Methodology & Detailed Findings
The info used on this evaluation is from the USDA’s 2019 Survey of Organic Agriculture.
To establish the states with essentially the most natural farms, researchers calculated the full licensed natural acres operated as a share of complete farmland in every state.
Within the occasion of a tie, the state with the larger variety of natural farms as a share of complete farms was ranked larger. Solely states with obtainable knowledge from the USDA had been included within the evaluation.
