Organic Continued from Page 7
than 13,000 acres producing more than $125 million of vegetables and fruits at farm gate prices. The boomwas just beginning as Salinas Valleyorganicacreagemorethandoubledin thenextdecade. Itdoubledagaininthenext five years and then saw its largest increase ever—toalmost 90,000acres—in2019. By then the county’s growers— includ- ing Taylor Farms, Driscoll’s, Tanimura & Antle, Braga Fresh and JV Smith—were selling well over a half-billion dollars in organic leaf lettuces, saladmixes, spinach, broccoli, strawberries and raspberries. Driscoll’s, which serves around two- thirds of the organic berry market in the country, according to company es- timates, has driven the meteoric rise of organic berries. The Earthbound Farm business that started with the Goodmans’ backyard raspberries was traded among major agricultural corporations in recent years until it was ultimately acquired in 2019 by Salinas-based Taylor Farms. The major vegetable company operates 13 plants in the U.S. andMexico. ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Monterey . He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
andnichenatural foodstores toamulti-bil- lion-dollar category—nowwithprominent display inmajor supermarkets. Sales con- tinue togrow. Through much of the pandemic, the organic categorywas led by packaged sal- ads, whichareharvested soyoung theydo not need the jolt of nitrogen that can only come fromsynthetic fertilizer. These convenient blends of spring mix, baby lettuces, spinach, arugula, kale and other greens fetchedmore than $380 million at retail in the second quarter of 2021, according to the Organic Produce Performance Report released by Organic ProduceNetwork andCategory Partners. But this year, berries replacedpackaged salads at the top of organic produce cate- gories, as salesof strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries grewby 20% in a year to reach $435million at retail. “It’s apparent that consumer super- market food purchases now increasingly reflect themore traditional buying trends versusCOVID-inspiredpurchasingchang- es,” said Steve Lutz, senior vice president of insights and innovation at Category Partners, which collects and analyzes sales data inpartnershipwith theOrganic
A celery field is harvested at Lakeside Organic Gardens near Watsonville. Once inefficient, the organic produce supply chain now reaches major supermarkets across the U.S. as demand soars.
Produce Network. “It is also encouraging that even though consumer purchases of conventional produce were lower than second quarter in 2020, organic produce continued to generate growth.” In the early days of the rise of organic produce, most of the price difference be- tween organic and conventional came after harvest because the supply chain was still inconsistent and inefficient, said University of California Cooperative
Extens ion agr icul tural economi st Desmond Jolly. Those price differences have nar- rowed, and sales have increased as ma- jor producer-shippers, many based in the Salinas Valley, have taken to organic growing and corporate retailers have de- veloped an organic category as a super- market staple. By 2003 , organi c produc t ion in Monterey County had grown to more
Farm Bureau publications, Bountiful TV win awards
Ag Alert ® has won a top prize as “Best Newspaper” inanannual competition for agricultural publications sponsored by the American FarmBureau Federation. The California Farm Bureau, which publishes Ag Alert, also received first- placehonors in twoadditional categories, with CaliforniaBountiful ®magazinebeing cited as Best Magazine and a California Bountiful ® TV segment winning the Best Video Feature Story category. Ag Alert’s award came in recogni- tion of its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through dozens of stories publ ished during 2020, the weekly newspaper highlighted the impacts of the pandemic on the state’s diverse ag- ricultural production and Farm Bureau advocacy to help farmers and ranchers weather the impacts. The contest judge noted that Ag Alert, which is distributed to agricultural mem- bers of county FarmBureaus inCalifornia, is“extremelyeffectiveatengagingmembers, offering the reader a cornucopia of infor- mationonawide range of topics that likely relate to their farmingor ranchoperation.” Ag Alert won in a category for Farm Bureauswithmemberships under 80,000. The AFBF awards contest was not held in 2020 due to impacts of the pandemic. This year’s contest featured 198 submis- sions from state FarmBureaus across the nation for work produced in 2019 and 2020, with separate awards in each cate- gory forworkprimarily related to thepan-
demic and for projects focused on other subjects. Awardswerepresented lastweek during a virtual ceremony. California Bountiful TV’s recognition also came in a category for COVID cover- age, providing a comprehensive look at how farmers and food-service operators worked together to support their employ- eesandkeeptheircommunitiesnourished during the crisis. “The multiple voices helped to tell this story,” the judge said. California Bountiful TV airs statewide and also nationally. CaliforniaBountifulmagazinewas rec- ognized for doing a “great job telling the story of California farming and ranching to those of us who gratefully consume all that you produce.” The bimonthly publi- cation is distributed by subscription and to FarmBureau associate members. AFBF President ZippyDuvall said state Farm Bureau communications teams producing their publications “are vital to advancing the Farm Bureau’s policies and priorities, both nationally and at the state level. They also play a key role in satisfying customers’ hunger for infor- mationabout howAmerica’s farmers and ranchers produce their food while pro- tecting our water, air and soil.” In addition to California, awards were presented to Farm Bureau communi- cators in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah andWisconsin.
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8 Ag Alert November 3, 2021
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