Jan 4, 2022

California has more than a third of all US organic farming, state says

The Golden State posted some impressive statistics on its organic agricultural production, in a teaser for its annual report on the subject, due out in early 2022.

California accounts for 36% of all organic agricultural production in the United States, leading the nation, and organic production and organic sales are expected to continue to grow, according to the California Department of  Food and Agriculture, or CDFA.

Organic sales in 2020 totaled $11.99 billion, which is an increase of 14% from 2019, according to the most recent numbers. The top five counties in terms of overall gross sales for 2020 were Monterey County, Los Angeles County, Santa Cruz County, Kern County and Merced County.

Between 2014 and 2020, California farmland in organic production increased 22 percent, from 1,796,080 acres to 2,186,551 acres, according to CDFA.

More information will be available in the California Agricultural Organic Report for 2020-2021, which is scheduled to be published in early 2022. A link to the 2019-2020 report may be found here.