Projects
Innovations in Organic Marketing, Technology and Research
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Organic foods are a rapidly growing segment of the food system in the United States and Europe. Yet little is known about the economic relationships between organic farmers, food processors and other links in the organic food chain. This workshop, sponsored by USDA’s Economic Research Service and Farm Foundation, was part of a major effort to develop a foundation of information for economic analysis of organic agriculture and the organic food system.
The October 2005 workshop explored key challenges and opportunities facing the organic industry today, including:
- Producer options and obstacles
- Market growth
- Strategies for organic sector development
- Broadening the education infrastructure in oganic agriculture
- Measuring and communicating the benefits of organic food production
- Building a research base for organic production
Workshop partners included USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, Agricultural Research Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, National Agricultural Library, the Office of the Chief Economists. Other workshop partners included the National Association of State Organic Programs (NASOP), the Organic Trade Association and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Here is the workshop program:
| Setting the Scene | |
| Kitty Smith, USDA-ERS and Virginia Guzman, USDA-RMA | |
| Thomas Dobbs, South Dakota State University |
| Assessing Producer Options and Obstacles | |
| Kent Yeager, Indiana Farm Bureau | |
| Leslie Duram, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | |
| George Siemon, Organic Valley | |
| Terry Wolf, owner, Wolf Farms |
| Assessing Market Growth | |
| Carolyn Dimitri, USDA ERS | |
| Don Harris, Wild Oats | |
| Melanie DuPuis, University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Organic Innovations in the United States and Italy Jerry DeWitt, Iowa State University |
| Panel: Strategies to Facilitate Organic Sector Development | |
| Panel Members: Otto Doering, Purdue University Ferd Ho |
04-23