Keeping Up With Growing Organic Demand

Keeping Up With Growing Organic Demand

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.

Demand for organic food products continues to grow at double-digit percentages annually.

Muramoto… “First of all, California produces more than 50% of the organic vegetables and fruits in the country.”

That’s Dr. Joji Muramoto, UC Cooperative Extension Specialist who works with organic production systems.

Muramoto… “Organic milk is the top. And then, strawberries the second. And the third is actually carrots.”

To keep up with all of this demand, researchers and producers have been collaborating to increase production while maintaining organic standards. Dr. Muramoto says there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Muramoto… “There are so many challenges still out there. How to provide nitrogen in organic production without having excess nitrogen to the environment. That research needs to be done. And also, pest management. Not just soilborne disease, but also insect pest management. And still lots of room to study. And the effect of diversification, how farm diversification could work both at small scale and large scale.”

Another challenge is soil health so that organic producers can manage weed pressure while still minimizing disturbance.

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