MADISON, Wis. - A new $17.5 million warehouse in southwest Wisconsin for distributing products like organic milk, cheese, eggs and meat offers new evidence of organic farming's "tremendous" growth in the state, Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday.
In 2002, Wisconsin had 422 certified organic farms and the number has skyrocketed to 807 today, Doyle said.
"It is pretty much straight economics. There is higher and higher demand for organically grown food and organic dairy, and Wisconsin farmers really have led the nation in responding to that increased demand," he said. "I think the general consensus is we are far from the peak."
Doyle was to attend the grand opening Friday of Organic Valley's new 80,000-square foot warehouse and distribution center in Cashton. Organic Valley is a farmer-owned cooperative of several hundred members who produce organic milk, butter, eggs, juice, soy beverages, produce and meats.
To be certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farmers can use no chemicals on their crops or growth hormones and antibiotics in their livestock, said Robin Engel, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture.
Wisconsin has about 185 certified organic business, including milk processors and distributors, compared with about 140 a year ago, Engel said. Nationally, consumer demand for organic products has grown about 20 percent a year for several years.
In 2002, the state planted 47,000 acres with organic crops and it's grown to an estimated 90,000 acres now, she said.
Doyle said the demand for organic products is being driven by consumers who are more health conscious. And people are willing to pay more to eat healthier, he said.
Doyle announced three grants to help bolster the organic industry:
-$22,500 to support research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Horticulture Department to develop farming practices for large-scale organic vegetable production.
-$20,000 to Michael Fields Agriculture Institute in East Troy to develop nutritional organic poultry feed.
-$14,500 to Home Grown Wisconsin in Madison to develop and implement food safety protocols for organic farm production.
Wisconsin has about 75,000 farms, from small hobby farms to those that plant thousands of acres corn, soybeans and wheat, Engel said. The figure includes about 14,000 dairy farms, some with herds topping 3,000 head.
According to Engel, Wisconsin has the most organic dairies in the country and also raises the most organic livestock, which includes chickens, beef cattle, pigs and goats. The state is among the top three producers of organic corn, trailing Minnesota and Iowa.
Doyle said organic farming is a way for the producers to diversify, so they are not "totally at the mercy" of rising and falling commodity prices.
Over the past nine months, the price for 100 pounds of raw milk (about 12 gallons) certified organic has ranged from $23 to $30, compared with a range of $12 to $21 for conventional milk, Engel said. The state produces about 472 million gallons of organic milk annually.
