Until Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC, a major year-round shipper of potatoes and onions based in Idaho Falls, ID, “decided to get into the organic game” about five years ago, there was really nowhere in the industry that buyers could get everything they were looking for in the potato and onion categories in one place, said Eric Beck, Wada’s director of marketing.

Total organic fresh produce sales for the first quarter of 2021 saw a continuation of last year’s growth, increasing by 9.3 percent from the same period in 2020 and topping $2.2 billion for the quarter, according to the Q1 2021 Organic Produce Performance Report released exclusively by Organic Produce Network and Category Partners.

February organic pear and apples sales verified that the pandemic year has been incredibly positive for both categories. Both category organics sales and volumes are up, with organic share greatly increased in the last year.

The U.S. District Court in San Francisco affirmed the legality of U.S. Department of Agriculture certification of organic hydroponic operations. The case stemmed from an ongoing debate about whether hydroponics may be certified organic.

The Center for Food Safety had asked the USDA to prohibit the organic certification of hydroponic production systems and the USDA declined the request. The ruling was celebrated by the Coalition for Sustainable Organics, which advocates for hydroponic organic agriculture.

A & A Organic Farms is now offering garlic from Argentina. “With both organic and conventional available this year we took the opportunity to pack this year’s crop in our new Double A label,” said  Andy Martin, president. “We are excited to announce the expansion of A & A’s Organic Farms imported garlic offerings.

The Organic Produce Network has released its inaugural State of Organic Produce, a comprehensive overview of how the industry performed last year, including data and analysis of retail sales of organic fresh produce.
 
The newly published report includes information related to: