Organic Fruit and Vegetable Production

bar chart comparing aggregate acreage of organic tomato, lettuce and carrot production during the first decade of the 2000

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Organic fruit and vegetable production continues to expand in the United States, with regionalism describing much of that expansion.

Many fruits and vegetables, citrus trees for example, grow only in areas meeting specific climactic conditions such as temperature and soil conditions.

Whereas total organic cropland utilization in the United States showed a bit of geographical diversity in 2008 (see the organic farming article), statistics also show a decidedly regional, West Coast bias in the country's transition to organic fruit and vegetable cropland utilization.

In 2008, organic vegetable production accounted for approximately 6.4% of total organic cropland use in the United States.

Vegetable farming statistics can be a bit misleading in the ERS data set due to the fact that, what some might call traditional vegetables, such as corn and potatoes, get relegated to different categories.

Assuming a different commercial organic vegetable definition, the data set's reference to organic vegetable cropland generally refers to major salad vegetables such as lettuce, carrots and tomatoes, along with a handful of other specialty vegetables such as popcorn, shallots, sweet potatoes and yams.

The chart at the top of the page shows incremental growth in the amount of organic acreage alloted to carrots, tomatoes and lettuce over the past decade, with above average 2008 growth in organic cropland acreage over 2005 organic cropland acreage.

California's transition to organic cropland for commercial vegetable farming far out paces all other states. In 2008, organic vegetable farming accounted for 91,915 acres of California cropland.

Washington, the state with the second largest amount of organic vegetable cropland, recorded 18,294 acres in use. Third in line, Oregon, recorded 5,789 acres of organic vegetable cropland.

Combined, California, Washington and Oregon organic vegetable cropland acreage constitutes approximately three quarters of the total acreage alloted to organic vegetable cropland.

bar chart comparing aggregate acreage of organic fruit production over the past decade

Fruit production, already a high value specialty crop category, becomes an even higher value speciality crop category when it's organic fruit production. In 2008, organic orchards accounted for 4.9% of the total organic cropland.

Chart two compares organic fruit acreage for citrus, apples, grapes and tree nuts using three points in time, 2000, 2005 and 2008. All categories recorded increases in organic acreage utilization over time.

Beginning in 2008, records for organic acreage used to grow subtropical fruit make their first appearance in the data set, explaining larger than expected changes in the total organic fruit and nut acreage over the decade.

The West Coast organic fruit and vegetable cropland bias thins a bit when fruits get considered singularly. California's 75,855 of organic fruit acreage again out paces organic fruit acreage in any other state.

Washington's 20,188 acres of organic fruit cropland ranks second to California.

Finally, with 4,986 acres of organic fruit production, Texas fills the third spot, along with adding a bit of geographical diversity back into the statistical mixture.

While regionalism describes a good deal of the supply side of the organic fruit and vegetable market, describing the demand side might require an understanding of the broader geographical consumer market.

Changes in fruit and vegetable preferences among the American public over the past thirty to forty years reveals an average American with a more diverse pallet. The small but growing organic fruit and vegetable niche represents one of the many choices now available to suit the real individual American pallet.

Organic Fruit and Vegetable Production