Minnesota Organic Conference in St. Cloud This Week

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Organic farmers from across Minnesota will be coming to St. Cloud this week for the annual Organic Conference.

Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Peterson says they have 80 booths in the trade show. About 400 people have registered to attend.

He says one topic of discussion is planning your agritourism business.

There are all kinds of farmers now that open up their farms to the public whether its a winery, or a u-pick, or different tours that they have.  Things where you can go and experience the farm firsthand and it adds value to the farmers.

Peterson says they'll also be discussing direct marketing your crop, soil health, and food as medicine.

Peterson says here in Minnesota we've maintained between 600 and 700 certified organic farms.

That's a little over one percent of our farms in the state that are certified organic.  There are many more that are not certified but practice organic.  That's about 227,000 acres across the state, about an average of 350 acres per farm.

Peterson says there are another 250 organic processors in the state.

The USDA says, in the past decade U.S. organic retail sales increased by an average of eight percent per year. In 2021, organic retail sales were estimated to be more than $52 billion, about 5.5 percent of all retail food sales.

The USDA says conventional grocery retailers are now the primary outlets for organic food sales, surpassing natural food stores in the mid-2000s.

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The Minnesota Organic Food Conference is on Thursday and Friday at the River's Edge Convention Center.

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