Even if organic products tends to be more expensive, these latest statistics show that America’s taste buds are slowly shifting away from heavily processed or factory farmed foods and people are increasingly more aware of the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture. Nevertheless there are disparities between the different states. The top 10 states alone represent a whopping 78 percent of U.S. organic sales in 2014, according to the NASS.

California makes up the biggest slice of the country’s organic market with a stunning $2.2 billion in sales (41% of the national total). Of the 14,093 organic farms tallied in the survey, 2,805 (about 20 %) were based in the Golden State. A trend that is being encouraged by the fact that more people are eating organic locally. Organic food aside, California’s farmers feed a large part of the country. According to the latest statistics compiled by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the state produces almost half of all the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in the country, as well as a whopping share of the livestock and dairy,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

At the second place comes Washington with $515 million in sales, according to the latest Organic Survey from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). It is being followed by Pennsylvania ($313 million), Oregon ($237 million), Wisconsin ($201 million) being the only other state along California to have more than 1,000 organic farms with 1,228, Texas ($199 million), New York ($ 164 million), Colorado ($147 million), Michigan ($125 million) and Iowa ($103 million) at the 10th place.

Outside of the top 10 states, the survey shows that the country’s green food movement is a strengthening trend. As it turns out, sales from organic farms across the country boomed last year, with consumer spending up 72% since 2008.

Website resource: http://organic-market.info/news-in-brief-and-reports-article/the-top-ten-of-the-most-organic-states-in-the-us.html

Tags:   US , organic