While agricultural experts and other environmental policymakers still debate the overall merits of organic produce and livestock versus their conventional counterparts, Americans are eating more organic turkeys. According to a USDA data set, certified organic acreage for turkey production was up over 4,000% between 2000-2008. Although this accounts for only 0.15% of overall turkey acreage production in the US (2008), considering the USDA reported zero acres of organic turkey production in 1997, this is staggering growth.
Add the consideration that thousands of independent, organic farms have sprouted recently that may not have received USDA certification (a complicated, expensive and often protracted process), I would wager that the organic turkey market in the US is very close to a 1% share.
And you guessed it: That’s no small (organic) turkey.
Image Credit by soozums via Flickr under a CC license
