By Carl Jorgensen
November 26, 2018
In 2016 organic food represented 5.3% of total food sales in the U.S., while only 1.2% of U.S. agricultural land is certified organic. The gap is being filled by imports from other organic-producing countries. Despite the ongoing gap between supply and demand, organic has consistently delivered double-digit growth rates for the past 20 years. There continues to be some confusion in the public’s mind about what the organic seal really represents, but the level of trust in organic continues to grow. The personal health benefits of organic are the primary purchase motivator, but consumers are increasingly aware that organic farming methods have substantial environmental benefits. Biodiversity, cleaner water, restoration of wildlife habitat, healthier soils, reduced runoff and no synthetic pesticides are some of the additional benefits that consumers have come to expect from organic. The Free From Forum, powered by Linkage Research, finds that the environmental motivator has progressed to the point where 29% of US households that are seeking organic are also seeking out sustainable products.
Regenerative Agriculture
Now, a new role for agriculture has emerged: mitigating climate change through regenerative organic practices. How? It turns out that healthy soils sequester greenhouse gas carbon that otherwise would be in the atmosphere. For decades, our soil has been degraded by industrial farming and its carbon has been released into the atmosphere. Studies measuring the carbon content of soils at the Rodale Institute Experimental Farm in Kutztown, PA have shown that organic, compost- and manure-based soil management techniques produce soils with dramatically higher carbon content. Building on USDA’s organic standards, organic regenerative agriculture emphasizes conservation tillage, not yet widely used in organic systems, as a practice integral to soil-carbon sequestration and key to moderating climate change. This means building healthy soils by maintaining a high percentage of organic matter in soils. Techniques include minimum tillage (plowing), promoting crop diversity, composting, mulching, crop rotation, cover crops, and green manures, that is, keeping the ground covered at all times with either living crops or the byproducts of harvest, such as stems and leaves. Covered soils do not release climate-warming carbon back into the atmosphere.
On September 13th 2017, the Rodale Institute unveiled draft standards for a new Regenerative Organic Certification, developed by Rodale and a coalition of farmers, ranchers, nonprofits, scientists and brands.
What are brands doing? On March 7th, 2018, Danone announced a major commitment to regenerative agriculture and soil health for its Dannon yogurt brand. Their member dairies have agreed to follow a set of standards designed to promote soil health and sequester carbon. Organic brand Annie’s has launched a limited edition line of products whose ingredients were produced using organic regenerative methods.
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