More farmers shifting to organic soybeans helped lift the overall growth in organic grains acreage in the United States in 2021, according to Mercaris, a market data service and online trading platform for organic and non-GMO certified agricultural commodities.
This is reported by ProAgro Group, citing World-Grain.
Total organic acres in 2021 totaled 9.1 million acres, boosted in part by an additional 40,000 acres planted to organic soybeans, Mercaris said. Organic soybeans not only saw a 13% increase in operations harvesting soybeans, but also showed growth in the acres harvested per producer.
Mercaris said nearly every small grain — with the exception of barley — experienced growth in 2021. Organic small grains posted a 7% year-over-year increase in harvested acres, Mercaris said, with the expansion of small grain acres led by a significant addition of total acres in Montana as well as substantial growth in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.
“Overall, there was a lot of growth in organic agriculture in 2021 as more organic operations popped up and existing operations continued to grow,” the company said.
