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Nov. 13, 2026 By Keith Loria, as it appeared in Organic Produce Network newsletter At a Glance Fresh organic produce sales rose to $10.6 billion in 2025 while volume increased as well. A recent decline in total organic acreage is driven largely by pasture and rangeland, not applicable across every crop. A three-year transition and uncertain buyer demand remain the biggest obstacles to adding domestic organic produce acreage. U.S. fresh organic produce sales reached $10.6 billion in 2025, up 5.9%, while volume climbed 6.4%, according to Organic Produce Network's State of Organic Produce report. "The market is sending a clear signal: Consumer demand is growing faster than domestic organic production," CCOF chief program officer Jessy Beckett Parr says. "From the CCOF Foundation's perspective, this is not simply an acreage challenge; it is a farm-viability challenge." The demand signal is clear. The acreage signal is not. A U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service overview citing Argus data puts certified organic acreage at 7.2 million acres in 2025, nearly 2 million below 2021 and about 9% below 2024. Yet most of that multiyear loss came from pasture and rangeland, while different federal and private datasets count acreage in different ways. That distinction changes the question for produce. Rather than asking whether one national acreage total is keeping pace with sales, retailers and growers need to know which crops and regions are tight, whether certified ground is being harvested more intensively and what would make a three-year transition economically survivable. Acreage is not one number The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service collects harvested acreage directly from producers through periodic surveys. Argus compiles certified acreage from certifiers and estimates harvested acreage. The two approaches produced sharply different 2021 totals: 4.9 million acres in the NASS survey and 9.1 million acres in the Argus series cited by USDA ERS. Comparing one series with the other can create growth or decline that did not occur on the ground. "There's a lot of nuance in the organic acreage data," says Tom Chapman, Organic Trade Association's co-CEO. "An acre is not a one-for-one substitute for all aspects of the marketplace. You might see declines in one area but overall growth in the sector from other areas." Argus Media's 2025 data show 3.89 million acres of organic field crops, accounting for 54% of harvested organic acres when pasture and rangeland are included. Field-crop acreage grew by about 220,000 acres from 2021, according to Ryan Koory, editor of Americas agriculture at Argus Media. The much larger move was a 1.82 million-acre reduction in pasture and rangeland. Koory says some of that loss likely reflected contraction in organic dairy and land that had been certified but never brought into production. "The better number to look at to gauge the health of organic production would be growth in organic field-crop area, which has been moderate," Koory says. "The larger engine driving this change was the reduction in certified organic pasture and rangeland." Koory's work focuses on grains and oilseeds rather than produce, but the distinction is useful throughout the organic supply chain. A national total can fall even as acreage for a particular class of crops grows. It can also miss how intensively land is used. California adds another layer California's reporting illustrates the problem. The state's organic production-site acreage has declined in recent years, but harvested acreage has increased, Chapman says. Multiple crops harvested from the same ground can lift output even when the physical footprint contracts. Acreage still matters, especially in a state facing water scarcity and high land and labor costs, but production-site acres and harvested acres answer different questions. Grimmway Produce Group makes acreage decisions crop by crop and region by region as it builds year-round supply. Water availability and soil quality are only the first screens. Proximity to packing operations and customers, disease and insect pressure, and access to labor also determine whether a site works for organic vegetables. To read entire report, Click Here. Tweet |
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