Tue, Jun 13, 2017, 00:40 Updated: about 13 hours ago

One Californian study found that children born to mothers with traces of organophosphate metabolites a key element of many pesticides during pregnancy had more adverse mental development at two years of age, attention problems at three-and-a-half and five years, and poorer intellectual development at seven years. Photograph: Getty Images

It is hard not to be well disposed to organic food and those who grow it. Small-time growers competing with huge multi-nationals who are free to use chemicals to produce food mountains on an industrial scale really do deserve recognition for their endlessly Quixotic struggles.

And - by any measure - organic food is more environmentally friendly than the alternatives. Growing fruit and vegetables and rearing livestock and producing milk without dumping rivers of toxic pesticides into the ground or lakes of antibiotics into animals has to be better for the world in which we live.

Only a fool would argue otherwise.

But while, on many levels, organic is demonstrably better, on others it is demonstrably worse most notably on our wallets. Were someone living in Ireland to switch to an entirely organic shopping basket, they could quite easily add some 2,000 onto to their annual grocery spend and they might be left with nothing to show for it.

According to a study that appeared in a recent addition of the journal Food Quality and Preference, people cant really tell the difference between organic and regular food in blind taste tests although when told a product is organic they suddenly start rating it higher.

This chimes perfectly with this writers own experience when comparing organic products with those produced using other methods and with virtually no exceptions over more than a decade we have never been unable to discern any taste differences between the foods produced conventionally and organically.

Despite the diverging prices and taste equivalence it appears Irish people still cant get enough organic food, and sales are booming. According to Bord Bia, the market saw growth of 22 per cent in value terms in 2016 to 150 million, following a 13 per cent increase in 2015. The volume of organic food purchased grew by 35 per cent in 2016 following a 21 per cent increase in 2015.

Bottom lines and taste tests and booming sales aside, what impact does organic food have on our health?

A somewhat dispiriting answer is perhaps none at all and it may be true that the impact organic food has on a persons physical well being is dramatically overstated in some quarters there are question marks as to whether eating organically makes much difference to our health at all.

One of the most exhaustive European studies examining the health benefits of organic food was carried out almost seven years ago at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, acting at the behest of the British governments Food Standards Agency.

It found that consumers were paying higher prices for organic food partly because they believed it had health benefits. But after carrying out a review of more than 160 scientific papers which had been published over 50 years, researchers found no significant difference when it came to consumer health.

A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance, the report said. Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority.

The report did not, as you might expect, go unchallenged with organic advocates pointing out that it did not take into account the health effects of pesticides and other contaminants found in some foods.

And it is the absence of pesticides which draws most consumers towards organic food.

The impact of pesticides were not excluded from a much more recent report in fact they were at its core. A review of existing scientific evidence commissioned by the European Parliament and published earlier this year highlighted the dangers of pesticides.

MEPs wanted a simple question answered: Is organic food healthier than conventionally grown crops? Once again experts looked at existing research and told MEPS of one alarming Californian study which found that children born to mothers with traces of organophosphate metabolites a key element of many pesticides during pregnancy had more adverse mental development at two years of age, attention problems at three-and-a-half and five years, and poorer intellectual development at seven years.

Experts also raised concerns about pesticide regulation and stressed that while a comprehensive risk assessment before market release has to be carried out on all pesticides, important gaps remain and they said that because organic food has very low pesticide levels potential risks to human health are largely avoided.

There are indications that organic crops have a lower cadmium content than conventional crops due to differences in fertiliser use and soil organic matter, an issue that is highly relevant to human health,. Professor Ewa Rembialkowska, of Warsaw University said. Organic milk has a higher content of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventional milk, although we cannot currently derive any specific health benefit from this.

Those last 10 words may well be the most telling in the entire report.

Read this article:

Organic food: is it really worth the extra expense? - Irish Times

By Dan Flynn | June 13, 2017

Once youre big enough, its only matter of time before you must begin to worry somebody is ripping you off. That pretty well sums up the current mindset of the Organic Trade Association which figures that organic sales last year totaled about $47 million or about 5.3 percent of all food sales in the country.

And because organic generally fetches higher prices than normal food, its almost certain to be targeted in food fraud schemes. Thats much of why the Organic Trade Association (OTA) has opted to formits own Anti-fraud Task Force. As first reported by POLTICO, the organizationsanit-fraud unit is scheduled tobe up and running later this month to develop best practices for the private sector to use in verifying international supply chains.

Laura Batcha, OTAs chief executive, said the action is in response to reports last month about shipments of organic corn and soybeans entering the United States from Turkey that were fradulent. The OTA task force plans to share information with organic certification agencies and the documentation that importers report to the USDAs National Organic Program when they reject shipments and tell why the action was taken.

Also, as recently as last week, the USDAs National Organic Program (NOP) alerted the organic trade about the presence of fraudulent organic certificates.Fraudulent organic certificates listed the following businesses are in use and have been reported to the NOP:

The NOP said these certificates falsely represent agricultural products as certified organic under the USDA organic regulations, violating the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. It says fraudulent certificates may have been created and used without the knowledge of the operator or the certifying agent named in the certificate.

The USDAs posting of fraudulent certificates does not necessarily mean that the named operator or certifying agent was involved in illegal activity. If an operation named on a fraudulent certificate is certified, its certifying agent, identified in the list of certified operations, can provide additional information and verification to the organic trade.Organic handlers should continue to review certificates carefully, validate with their certifying agents where needed, and send any suspicious certificates to theNOP Compliance and Enforcement Division.

Any use of these certificates or other fraudulent documents to market, label, or sell non-organic products as organic can result in a civil penalty of up to $11,000 per violation.Persons with information regarding the production or use of this or other fraudulent NOP certificates are asked to send information to theNOP Compliance and Enforcement Division.

OTA previousy announced that organic sales in the U.S. totaled around $47 billion in 2016, reflecting new sales of almost $3.7 billion from the previous year. The $43 billion in organic food sales marked the first time the American organic food market has broken though the $40-billion mark. Organic food now accounts for more than five percent 5.3 percent to be exactof total food sales in this country, another significant first for organic. Organic food sales increased by 8.4 percent, or $3.3 billion, from the previous year, blowing pastthe stagnant 0.6 percent growth rate in the overall food market. Sales of organic non-food products were up 8.8% in 2016, also handily surpassing the overall non-food growth rate of 0.8 percent.

OTA also showed that organic is creating jobs. More than 60 percent of all organic businesses with more than five employees reported an increase of full-time employment during 2016, and said they planned to continue boosting their full-time work staff in 2017.

The organic industry continues to be a real bright spot in the food and ag economy both at the farm-gate and check-out counter, says Batcha. The theme of our conference is Organic. Big Results from Small Seeds because of the wide and positive impact of organic, noted Batcha. Organic farmers are not just staying in business, theyre often expanding.

She continued saying, organic handling, manufacturing and processing facilities are being opened, enlarged and retooled. Organic farms, suppliers, and handlers are creating jobs across the country, and the organic sector is growing and creating the kinds of healthy, environmentally friendly products that consumers are increasingly demanding.

The popularity of organic produce and proteinThe $15.6-billion organic fruits and vegetables sector held onto its position as the largest of the organic food categories, accounting for almost 40 percent of all organic food sales. Posting an 8.4 percent growth rate, almost triple the 3.3 percent growth pace of total fruit and vegetable sales, organic fruits and vegetables now make up almost 15 percent of the produce that Americans eat. Produce has traditionally been the entry category for consumers new to organic, in large part because in the produce aisle the benefits of organic are probably the easiest to understand.

TheOrganic Trade Association is amembership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America, representing over 9,500 organic businesses across 50 states. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others.

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Organic Trade Association guards against food fraud schemes - Food Safety News

Organic claims for processed foods may not be particularly advantageous in promoting the benefits of the product, a study reckons.

Research looking into the well-established halo effect of the organic claim found its advantage less clear in processed foods compared to organic, conventional foods such as mashed potato and strawberry jam.

Overall, processed organic (vs. conventional) foods were perceived as tastier, more healthful or equally healthful but also as more caloric.

We argue that the features of processed food may modulate the impact of the organic claim, researchers from the Universities of Lisbon and London (Goldsmiths) observe.

Uncovering the specific conditions in which food claims bias consumer's perceptions and behaviour may have important implications for marketing, health and public-policy related fields.

The impact of the organic claim on product evaluation is a significant one with consumers associating the label with superior nutritional qualities and safer to consume.

Research also shows that when an unfamiliar brand sells an organic (vs. conventional) product, both the attitude towards that brand and brand trust are enhanced reflecting organics halo effect label.

Fruits and veg form a large share of the organic market within the EU. Yet, demand for animal products (dairy and meat), beverages (coffee and tea), desserts (ice-cream, cakes), and ready-to-eat meals (pizza, soup, etc.) are increasing. iStock

In the first of two studies, 182 participants began evaluating 32 food images of whole and processed food.

Half of the images depicted whole foods and included fruits (e.g., apples, strawberries, grapes) and vegetables (e.g., lettuce, zucchini, and potatoes).

The other half depicted processed foods and included sweets (e.g., ice cream, cake, and muffin) and meals (e.g., pasta, sandwich, and hamburger).

These images were labelled as organic and were compared to the conventional version in terms of perceived healthfulness, taste and caloric content.

Participants evaluated the examples of both whole and processed organic food as more healthful and tastier than their conventional alternative,

Whereas whole organic foods were perceived as having fewer calories than conventional alternatives, processed organic foods were perceived as having more calories than conventional foods.

When comparing whole and processed organic food, results showed an advantage of organic food over conventional food in terms of perceived healthfulness.

Calorie content was perceived to be more prominent for whole than for processed food examples.

Similar in nature, the second study used a subset of whole foods to include examples such as meat or fish.

The processed food subset included examples that were fruit or vegetable-based to expand the number of food examples from 32 to 60.

Here, 76 participants were asked to view the 60 images that kept the original product identification visible (e.g., chocolate chip muffins).

Half of the images depicted packaged whole foods and included fruits (e.g., apples, grapes), vegetables (e.g., lettuce, potatoes), and fish and meat (e.g., salmon fillets, raw pork steaks).

The fruit and vegetables subsets matched the products used in Study 1 (four new products were added).

The remaining images depicted packaged processed foods and included sweets (e.g., ice-cream, cake) and meals (e.g., frozen pasta, pizza).

When evaluating organic versus conventional food, the team found that participants evaluated the examples of whole organic foods as more healthful, as tastier and as having fewer calories than their conventional counterparts.

However, for processed food the only advantage of organic over conventional food occurred at the taste level.

Processed organic examples were rated as having more calories than their conventional alternatives.

The team also found whole organic foods similar to those from study one, i.e., more healthful, tastier and less caloric than their conventional counterparts.

Processed organic foods were rated as being as healthful and tasty as conventional food and as having higher caloric content.

Finally, findings from whole and processed organic food showed that the advantage of organic food over conventional food in healthfulness and calories was more prominent in whole than in processed food.

Results showed again that the advantage of organic over conventional food in healthfulness and calorieswas more prominent in whole than in processed food.

Results from two studies consistently showed that whole organic foods are perceived as more healthful, tastier and as having lower caloric content than their conventional counterparts, the study concluded.

This is the case for both evaluations of food exemplars and general evaluations of whole organic foods.

In our studies, this halo effect was systematically observed with two different measures (exemplars (examples) and general evaluations) and across all the evaluative dimensions examined.

The team also commented on the implications these results would have on food perception and behaviour.

From a marketing standpoint, it seems that the organic claim for processed foods may not be particularly advantageous in promoting positive inferences about the product, they commented.

In the case of whole foods, however, the organic claim may direct customers to assume beneficial proprieties not linked to the food production approach.

In other words, the organic claim may serve as an extra cue for a more positive perception (and hopefully choice) of products such as fruits and vegetables.

Source:Appetite

Published online ahead of print:doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.031

Lost in processing? Perceived healthfulness, taste and caloric content of whole and processed organic food.

Authors: Marlia Prada, Margarida Garrido, David Rodrigues

Read more here:

Lost in processing? Organic's 'halo effect' blunted in processed food - FoodNavigator.com

The organic industry is creating an anti-fraud task force in the wake of a Washington Post report that millions of pounds of USDA Organic soybeans and corn imported through Turkey appear to have been fraudulent.

Organized by the Organic Trade Association, the task force would develop methods for companies to ensure that imports of organic products are actually organic.

There is a strong desire on the part of industry to stop the incidence of fraud in organic, said Laura Batcha, director of the association. The consumer expects that organic products are verified back to the farm. The industry takes that contract with the consumer very seriously.

Last month, The Post reported that three enormous shipments of organic corn and soybeans - large enough to constitute a meaningful proportion of the U.S. supply of those commodities - had reached the U.S.

[The labels said 'organic.' But these massive imports of corn and soybeans weren't]

Documents and interviews indicated that the shipments were not really organic - in fact, some had been treated with pesticides en route to the U.S. All three shipments hailed from Turkey, one of the largest exporters of organic products to the United States, according to Foreign Agricultural Service statistics. With the "USDA Organic" designation, the value of the shipments rose by millions of dollars.

The report confirmed the suspicions of many U.S. farmers, who have seen prices by as much as a third as the volume of imports of organic corn and soybeans have climbed rapidly in recent years.

After the story appeared, one of the nations largest organic inspection agencies, CCOF, issued a notice to its clients indicating that it lacks confidence in the organic status of foreign grain. The agency instituted rules requiring that organic grain shipments be traceable back to growers.

One of the Turkish exporters involved in the shipments described by The Post, Beyaz Agro, has been decertified as an organic company by the USDA.

Now comes news of the task force.Some U.S. farmers look skeptically at the effort because, they say, they have been waiting for two years for protection from cheap - and fraudulent - organic imports.

John Bobbe, executive director of the Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing, or OFARM, a farmer cooperative, declared that he was amused by the industry effort. He noted that many members of the Organic Trade Association have benefited from the lower prices on organic corn and soybeans.

The three shipments examined by The Post represent roughly 7 percent of annual organic corn imports and 4 percent of organic soybean imports.

It remains to be seen whether this effort is serious or not, Bobbe said The OTA has been strangely quiet about this issue. It seems they have been looking the other way - the see no evil scenario. But I guess they cant ignore it now. I think the fire is burning enough that the flames can't be stamped out.

The USDA has been far too lax - and slow - in ferreting out fraudulent imports, U.S. organic farmers have complained. For months, the agency has said it has been investigating fraudulent grain imports.

[Why your 'organic' milk may not be organic]

If the anti-fraud efforts go no farther than publishing a set of best practices, Bobbe suggested, little is likely to change. A list of ethical practices, he said, will not stop an importer intent on the quick profits that can come from relabelling conventional grains as USDA Organic.

But Batcha said that the industry is working on more than a set of best practices. It is also lobbying to give the USDA broader enforcement powers in the next farm bill, she said. The association is also pushing Congress for new technology to trace organic products all the way back to the farm. It will also ask that the USDAs National Organic Program submit to Congress an annual report on enforcement actions.

Were going to Congress - we want to close the loopholes, Batcha said. The task forces work is important but its not the only thing were doing.

[How millions of cartons of organic milk contain an oil brewed in industrial vats of algae]

Read this article:

Millions of pounds of apparently fake 'organic' grains convince the food industry there may be a problem - Washington Post

A young girl's experiment turns into a lesson on the toxins in our food supply. Courtesy: Youtube/Suzanne Bartlett

There are no guarantees that the organic fruit and vegetables youre buying at a growers market are actually organic, because the industry isnt regulated.

MANY Australians are being deceived by food producers who call their products organic when they are not.

Its disgusting. You put your trust in them, said Gretchen Vidin, who says she was fooled into spending about $7,000 over the past two years by a market grower who advertised her conventional produce as organic.

She later found out the grower used chemicals that were so toxic most conventional growers stopped using them a decade ago. The grower also purchased limp fruit and vegetables from Sydneys Flemington Markets, passed them off as organic and charged up to triple the amount stallholders around her were asking.

Gretchen buys organic for health reasons, in line with the motivations of 51 per cent of organic shoppers, according to the recent Australian Organic Market Report 2017.

I had thyroid cancer and, for the past two years, have been juicing every day. Im trying to keep my chemical quota down to reduce the risk of getting cancer again, she said.

Gretchen found out the truth last month when an employee exposed the false promotion. Nothing much happened. The employee resigned in disgust and the grower did remove her organic stickers and signs for a month but reinstated them recently and continues trading, free of penalty, in the same CBD locations she has been selling for years.

THE TERM ORGANIC ISNT REGULATED

This case, one of thousands of greenwashing incidents around Australia, exposes a giant gap in the legal framework. The term organic is not regulated in Australia as it is in most other countries.

Daria Rydczak, a senior technical officer from Australian Certified Organic (ACO), said unscrupulous market growers are repeat offenders. We phone growers and manufacturers, point out their claims are fraudulent and they say, What are you going to do, sue me? They dont care.

The ACCC is not pressing on it hard enough. They would have to set-up a new department to deal with all the fraud that is going on at the moment.

The ACO has referred more than a hundred cases of suspected fraud to the ACCC in the past year. When the ACCC was asked why it had taken no action on any of these complaints it said in a statement, The ACCC is not able to make any comments in relation to conduct of the matters raised.

It pointed out that under Australian Consumer Law businesses must not engage in conduct that is likely to mislead or deceive or make false or misleading claims or statements. It cited two cases it had successfully prosecuted, concerning organic eggs a decade ago and organic water four years ago.

This is a prohibitively expensive remedy for most consumers however.

The widespread use of the term organic is not limited to the food aisle. The case of Organic Choice, a cleaning products range that has national shelf space at Coles supermarkets, was recently the subject of a complaint to the ACCC by the ACO.

The Organic Choice cleaning products sold in Coles supermarkets.Source:Supplied

The only ingredients listed as certified organic in the range are some essential oils, which typically make up a fraction of one per cent of the contents.

News.com.au asked Andrew Chaney, the Managing Director of Aware Environmental, the company that manufacturers Organic Choice, what percentage of ingredients in his products were organic.

I dont know the percentage. Why is that relevant? he replied.

We dont think were breaking any rules. If theres a letter of the law were breaking wed like to know, he said.

He said his products contained a lot more than 1 per cent, agreed to find out what percentage of ingredients were organic and let us know. That was a month ago and were still waiting to hear from him.

THE DARKER SIDE

Marg Will, CEO of Organic Systems & Solutions, says, This happens all the time and it is incredibly frustrating because its the consumer who suffers.

She said the problem had an even darker side. Lobbyists for multinational chemical companies are very active in trying to convince politicians to allow GMOs in food, a practice that is outlawed for certified organic producers.

There are a great many forces at work with more money than the organic industry, she said.

Martin Meek, an ACO director and partner in United Organics, a wholesaler and exporter, agrees.

I think the government is concerned that regulating the word organic would open a big scary door to regulation of other agricultural standards.

Every time we have tried to lobby, the government comes back and says the industry should self-regulate. The biggest competition to organic products are those pretending to be organic and we cant protect ourselves from that without legislation.

The term organic is, ironically, regulated in Australian export law.

Its insane that our export customers can be sure about the organic content, when our domestic market cant, Martin said.

INDUSTRY IS FIGHTING BACK

The organic industry is, however, fighting back. It is talking to the ACCC, setting up an online consumer complaints portal with a direct feed to the ACCC and has developed a new organic mark that will be making its way on to supermarkets shelves soon. This gives greater clarity as there are six certifying bodies in Australia, all with their own logos.

The organic industrys got to get better at telling people what it is, Martin said.

Were just too polite. We dont want to pick a fight but I think we need to start standing our ground a little bit more.

Read this article:

What you probably don't realise about 'organic' products - NEWS.com.au

Dive Brief:

Organic for a long time was considered a niche, with a strong focus on quality, Jeff Fairchild, produce director at 20-store New Seasons Market in Portland, Oregon,told Supermarket News. But whats happening is that the big chains companies like Walmart and Costco are pushing on the price side, so its definitely changed a lot.

Retailers across the board are ratcheting up their organic food offers. Next to Whole Foods whose lackluster performance latelyhas been widely publicized Costco is recognized as the nations second largest seller of organic food. Costco now sellsmore organic produce than Whole Foods, while Kroger sells more than $16 billion worth of natural and organic foods.

Midwest-area supercenter operator Meijer owns a stake in a rapidly expanding small-box concept Fresh Thyme. Even discount grocer Aldi has committed to providing a more natural food selection, including an expanded organic produce offer.

This widespread availability of organic fruits and vegetables and organic foods in general,especially at lower price points than typically found at Whole Foods and other natural food specialists is great for the industry and a growing base of consumers wanting to eat healthy. There is a concern that the existing organic produce supply will not be able to keep up with increased interest from retailers and consumers. Supply problems and price increases could be inevitable.

More farmers will need to get on board, but transitioning to organic farming is a long and expensive process. To help ease the process, the U.S. Department of Agriculture partnered with the OTA earlier this year on a new transitional certification programthat could make it more enticing for farmers to make the switch. It could end up being a good short-term solution, provided consumers will understand what transitional certification means and if they will be willing to pay higher prices for food bearing that seal.

Top image credit: Kraft Heinz Co

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Increasing demand for organic produce could pressure grocers - Food Dive

Wisconsin State Farmer 9:41 a.m. CT June 9, 2017

.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

DENVER -Produce processors and retailers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure sufficient supplies of organic produce, as domestic demand continues to rise at a pace that exceeds production, according to a new report from CoBank.

The dollar value of U.S. organic produce sales doubled from 2011 to 2015 and annual sales now amount to $5.5 billion. Currently, 15 percent of all U.S. produce sales are organic. While organic acres have nearly doubled over the last decade, that pace of supply-side growth has been sluggish relative to demand.

"Sales of organic fruit, vegetables and nuts have increased dramatically in recent years and this growth trend will continue," said Christine Lensing, CoBank senior economist, specialty crops. "More than half of U.S. households are now purchasing some organic produce. But for a variety of reasons, production has not been keeping pace with demand and the supply gap is widening."

More domestic growers would need to transition to organic to bridge the supply gap. But Lensing concludes that given current consumption trends and the length of the required transition period, organic produce supplies will likely remain under pressure over the next three to five years.

Food companies and large retailers have increased imports to meet demand and secure supplies throughout the year. The volume of U.S. imports of selected organic specialty crop items soared by almost 800 percent from 20112013 before leveling off.

"It's quite clear the market for organic produce will continue to grow, which creates opportunities for growers," adds Lensing. "However, transitioning to organic comes at a cost and is not without risk. Steady domestic supply growth will be dependent on consistent, wide premiums that reward growers for accepting the elevated risks associated with organic production."

Despite premiums of 30 to 50 percent, the perceived risks associated with transitioning to organic are often a significant deterrent for conventional growers. Key among those risks is the absence of an established market that offers transitioning growers a premium price during the lengthy three-year transition period.

Concerns about market and price sustainability, the additional labor required for organic farming and the absence of support systems such as subsidies or grants compound grower reluctance.

According to Lensing, the organic industry recognizes these challenges and is taking steps to help alleviate some of the pressures on transitioning growers.

A new partnership between the Organic Trade Association (OTA) and the USDA has been established to provide guidance to growers transitioning to organic production and is laying the foundation for a transitional organic market.

"Initiatives such as the transitional organic certification program and the formation of additional strategic partnerships should serve to encourage more domestic organic production and help address the marketing challenges created by supply shortfalls," added Lensing.

Read or Share this story: http://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/national/2017/06/09/surging-demand-organic-produce-widens-u-s-supply-gap/383810001/

Read more from the original source:

Surging demand for organic produce widens U.S. supply gap - Wisconsin State Farmer

More domestic growers would need to transition to organic to bridge the supply gap. But Lensing concludes that given current consumption trends and the length of the required transition period, organic produce supplies will likely remain under pressure over the next three to five years.

Food companies and large retailers have increased imports to meet demand and secure supplies throughout the year. The volume of U.S. imports of selected organic specialty crop items soared by almost 800 percent from 20112013 before leveling off.

"It's quite clear the market for organic produce will continue to grow, which creates opportunities for growers," adds Lensing. "However, transitioning to organic comes at a cost and is not without risk. Steady domestic supply growth will be dependent on consistent, wide premiums that reward growers for accepting the elevated risks associated with organic production."

Despite premiums of 30 to 50 percent, the perceived risks associated with transitioning to organic are often a significant deterrent for conventional growers. Key among those risks is the absence of an established market that offers transitioning growers a premium price during the lengthy three-year transition period. Concerns about market and price sustainability, the additional labor required for organic farming and the absence of support systems such as subsidies or grants compound grower reluctance.

According to Lensing, the organic industry recognizes these challenges and is taking steps to help alleviate some of the pressures on transitioning growers.

A new partnership between the Organic Trade Association (OTA) and the USDA has been established to provide guidance to growers transitioning to organic production and is laying the foundation for a transitional organic market.

"Initiatives such as the transitional organic certification program and the formation of additional strategic partnerships should serve to encourage more domestic organic production and help address the marketing challenges created by supply shortfalls, added Lensing."

A brief video synopsis of the report, "Mind the Supply (Gap): Meeting the Growing Demand for Organic Produce" is available on the CoBank YouTube Channel. The full report is available to media upon request.

About CoBank

CoBank is a $128 billion cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 70,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country.

CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural communities. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking centers across the U.S. and also maintains an international representative office in Singapore.

For more information about CoBank, visit the bank's web site at http://www.cobank.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/surging-demand-for-organic-produce-widens-us-supply-gap-300471447.html

SOURCE CoBank

http://www.cobank.com

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Surging Demand for Organic Produce Widens U.S. Supply Gap - PR Newswire (press release)

By Wedaeli Chibelushi . Jun 05, 2017, 2:34PM

The global organic food & beverage market is expectedto reach $320.5 billionby 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc.

Growing popularity of non-GMO products among consumers, owing to the health benefits associated with their consumption, is expected to drive the demand over the forecast period. The global organic food market was valued at $77.4 billionin 2015 and is expected to witness highest growth inAsia Pacificfrom 2016 to 2025.

Fruits & vegetables emerged as the largest organic food product segment in 2015 and is estimated to generate revenue over $110 billionby 2025. Frozen and processed food demand was over $11 billionin 2015 and is anticipated to witness significant growth over the next few years.

Beverage market is estimated to exceed $55 billionby 2025, and anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 13.1 percentover the next nine years. Coffee & tea is expected to emerge as the fastest growing sector with a CAGR of more than 15 percentfrom 2016 to 2025.

The US is the largest market inNorth Americaand was valued over 40 billion in 2015, owing to the growing consumer resistance for genetically modified and chemically grown crops in the region. The industry inAsia Pacificis projected to witness fastest growth over the forecast period and account for over 12 percentof global revenue by 2025.Asia Pacificis projected to witness highest growth on account of growing agriculture sector in the region coupled with robust domestic demand has led to significant demand for the product.

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Organic food and beverage market expected to reach $320.5 billion by 2025 - fdfworld

As health-conscious humans, we're constantly sifting through the research about whether organic food is better. And as pet parents, we always want to put the best in our pups' bowls. But does organic matter as much for dogs, or is it just another marketing ploy? After doing a lot of digging, I discovered that it's often not all it's cracked up to be for pups. Here's what you need to know before buying:

"Organic" dog food is not well regulated One of the biggest issues with buying your pup organic is that, unlike for human food, there aren't great standards in place: the USDA has yet to define "organic" as it applies to pet foods, so the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) sets the standards for the National Organic Program (NOP), and the individual states are supposed to regulate them

An "organic dog food" label can be misleading Technically, the NOP mandates that if companies want the coveted organic seal on the food, at least 95 percent of the food must be organic by weight. Labels can say they're "made with organic ingredients" if at least 70 percent of the ingredients are organic. Here's where it gets tricky: pet food companies can say they're organic even when their food doesn't contain organic ingredients because no agency requires proof of the pet food health claims.

It may be "organic," but still not healthy Unfortunately, being "organic" does not guarantee that food is good for your pup: Even if what you buy does contain organic ingredients, they may have been heavily processed in order to make the food shelf stable (thus stripping them of their nutritional value.) Plus, according to Greg Aldrich, PhD, research associate professor and pet food program coordinator at Kansas State University, it's difficult to secure the raw ingredients to produce a truly organic pet food within the framework of the AAFCO guidelines. So the food may be organic, but not nutritionally complete.

You may be paying more unnecessarily The word "organic" is often used to increase the seeming value of the food (and to charge you more!). But because the commercial dog food category is still lacking in strict regulations, there are some organic brands that are using chemicals and preservatives in their food. Others will slap on an organic label without being completely honest about their ingredients. So you might be paying more for food that isn't worth it.

Organic ingredients aren't necessarily better for dogs "There is no documented positive, nutritional, health, or safety benefits to organic," Aldrich says. There have been studies about the pros and cons of grains, raw food, and specific ingredients, but research on organic ingredients in a dog's diet is surprisingly lacking. So we really don't know they could be healthier for pups or they could be the same. What we do know? The most important thing is that your dog eat a healthy diet made with real, high-quality ingredients that are nutritionally balanced. Think about it: Would you rather eat organic gummi bears or a fresh salad with ingredients that aren't all organic? Exactly.

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Does Your Dog Really Need to Eat Organic Food? - POPSUGAR