| Some important facts
you should know about organic farming:
•
Consumer demand for organically grown foods and livestock
products are increasing. Sales of organic products
are the fastest growing sector of agriculture. Sales
continue to grow by over 20% annually and have shown
an annual increase of at least 20% during the last
6 years.
• Over the next 10 years analysts are projecting
total sales of organic products to exceed one hundred
billion dollars worldwide. The vast majority of growth
will in occur in the United States, Japan and throughout
Europe. (Source – IFOAM, International Federation
of Organic Agricultural Movement)
•
Large corporations such as McDonalds (with organic
milk being sold in Sweden), Lufthansa, Swiss Air and
Nestlé are positioning their products and services
to cater to the organic consumer.
• Thousand of corporations are targeting consumers
worldwide by adding organic foods to their product
lines.
• Since October of 2002,organic farms must
undergo an annual inspection by a licensed Certifier
to determine if the they’re operating under
specific guidelines to be certified as producing organic
foods and livestock.
•
Organic farming can actually save farmers money and
give them significantly better returns on land and
resource utilization as compared to conventional farming.
Conventional farming uses more petroleum than any
other industry and consumes almost 12% of the United
States energy supply.
• It can take up to five years for a conventional
farm to convert to organic farming.
• If a product falls under 100% Organic Certification,
you can be assured that there are no GMOs (Genetically
Modified Foods) in that product.
• It’s estimated that conventional farmers
use over 300 different pesticides to grow (non-organic)
foods which are sold in virtually all supermarkets
worldwide.
• Organic Aquaculture worldwide is a booming
business. Over 20% of all shellfish, an estimated
15 trillion metric tons are produced by Organic Aquaculture
Farmers. China is the largest producer of these products.
(Source – www.mindfully.org)
Aside from these known facts and current statistics
on organic farming, there are numerous inherent benefits
that both the organic farmers and consumers of their
products receive to improve on health, quality of
life and longevity.
Learn about Benefits to Growers
and Consumers >>> |