New survey offers picture of U.S. organic farming

New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has offered a better glimpse at where and how organic farming is conducted in the country. USDA released the 2008 Organic Production Survey earlier this month, revealing California as the top state for organic farming. "This was USDA’s first wide-scale survey of organic producers, and it was undertaken in direct response to the growing interest in organics among consumers, farmers, businesses, policymakers and others," Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said in a release. "The information being released today will be an important building block for future program and policy development."

The survey includes a number of tables including one breaking down the amount of organic farming in each state. California leads the country with 2,714 certified or exempt organic farms; the only other state with more than 1,000 is Wisconsin, with 1,222. Wyoming leads in land area, with 677,147 acres of organic farm land. Thirteen other states had more than 100,000 acres of organic farm land: California (470,903), Texas (314,279), Wisconsin (195,603), New York (168,428), Montana (167,800), Colorado (153,981), North Dakota (152,728), Idaho (148,425), Nebraska (146,188), South Dakota (132,047), New Mexico (117,676), Minnesota (106,066) and Oregon (105,605).