USA: Organic foods industry creates more jobs

Producing foods organically creates more jobs than conventional agricultural production, according to a new economic study. The report, “2010 Impacts of the USA Organic Foods Industry on the USA Economy” was released at the Organic Trade Association’s Policy Conference at the end of April and shows the organic food industry generated more than five hundred thousand jobs in the USA last year. (Picture: Alfalfa's in Boulder)

The report reveals that for every US$1 billion in retail sales of organic products, 28,000 more jobs were created throughout the economy. In addition, the use of organically produced ingredients resulted in the creation of 21 % more jobs than would have been generated if the food industry had relied solely on conventional farms for its ingredients. The study compared labor and input use on a wide range of conventional and organic farms, and attributed the job-creation differences largely to greater labor intensity on organic farms, smaller farm size, the need for an organic certification industry, and reliance on smaller retail outlets.

The release of the jobs report comes as Congress shapes the next farm bill in the USA, the nation’s major food and agriculture policy legislation. Included in farm bill discussions are programs critical to facilitating the expansion of organic farming in the USA.

OTA