Organic agriculture continues to grow and prosper in the farming industry.
According to Statistics Canada’s latest census of agriculture, there were 3,555 certified organic farmers in 2006 compared to 2,230 in 2001.
That is a 59 percent increase in organic farmers compared to a seven percent decline in the overall farming population over the same five years.
When 640 transition farmers are added to the total, organics represents 1.8 percent of all the farms in Canada.
Laura Telford, executive director of Canadian Organic Growers, said that closely matches the annual estimate their organization generates based on surveys with Canada’s certification bodies.
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“I’m pleased with that,” she said.
The census shows an additional 11,937 farmers, or 5.2 percent of the farming population, consider themselves organic although they have no piece of paper to prove it.
Telford said that is largely a meaningless number. She is surprised all 229,373 farmers surveyed didn’t flag themselves as organic.
“It’s the environmentally correct thing to say given the modern consumer,” she said.
“It has been our experience that a lot more people say they’re organic than actually are.”
The same week the census results were released the Nielson Co. reported sales of organic products in Canadian grocery stores amounted to $412 million in 2006, or 0.9 percent of the $46 billion in sales of grocery store items that have organic equivalents.
That is a 28 percent increase over last year’s organic sales volumes.
“That’s huge,” said Telford. “If farmers start to hear that stuff maybe they’ll start trying to get into that (organic) market a little more.”
According to Nielson, fresh vegetables were the top selling organic food category with 25 percent of sales, followed by beverages (excluding milk) at 18 percent, fresh fruits at 13 percent and dairy with 11 percent of sales.
“Other than dairy, the majority of the organic foods that Canadians are buying are imported, while the organic field crops produced by Canadian farmers are exported. This doesn’t make sense,” said Telford.
“We need to shift some of our organic production to meet the needs of Canadians. This makes sense from an environmental and food security perspective.”
She realizes that is easier said than done. The majority of Canada’s organic goods are produced in the prairie region, which is conducive to field crops rather than fruit and vegetable production.
And the Prairies is a long way from Canada’s key organic markets in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. But she remains convinced there is an opportunity for more organic livestock to move from the Prairies into British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec rather than Europe or the United States.
Telford said consumption continues to outpace domestic production but she anticipates the new federal regulation will address that disparity.
Optimism is boosted by a recent Organic Trade Association report showing organics accounts for about three percent of U.S. grocery store sales.
“If Canada is following America, and I think we are on this, it means that the growth rates will be steep for a number of years to come.”
