A Farmer’s Toolkit for 2026
Advancing Regional Organic Markets — 2026 Edition
Welcome to A Farmer’s Toolkit, a set of resources designed to help farmers and the organizations that support them understand the economics of the US organic market, opportunities and barriers in each part of the country, and how to work with wholesale, retail, and institutional buyers.
The Toolkit gives farmers, technical-assistance providers, and partner organizations three things: the context, the numbers, and the reasoning behind where the organic opportunity is heading. Use it to size up a market, prepare for a buyer conversation, or teach a room full of transitioning growers.
WHAT'S IN THE TOOLKIT
The National Landscape.
How large the organic market is, how fast it's growing, what consumers are buying, what U.S. farmers actually produce, and where domestic supply still falls short of demand. Organic sales reached $76.6 billion in 2025, growing at roughly twice the rate of the total marketplace — with the fastest growth now in meat, dairy, eggs, and the certified feed behind them.
Eight Regional Overviews.
The national picture translated into the crops, channels, and constraints that matter in each part of the country: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Central Plains, Southwest, West, and Northwest.
Farmers' Insights.
Six certified organic farmers — from a one-acre CSA in Nevada to a 900-acre dairy in Utah — on how they found their buyers, built their channels, and stayed in business. Interviewed in their own words, with common themes on diversification, volatility, and what keeps them farming.
A Buyer's Landscape.
Drawn from interviews with 28 organic buyers across independent retail, regional and national chains, schools and institutions, grain and feed companies, seed buyers, dairy processors, cotton businesses, and direct-to-consumer brands. What they need before they'll buy, how they think about transportation and contracts, when their sourcing windows open, and the buyer personas you're likely to meet.
State Data Sheets.
Individual two-page profiles for all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — certified operations and acreage, national ranking, top organic commodities, opportunities and barriers, and a directory of the technical assistance, certification cost-share, and funding resources available in that state.
Regional Handouts.
One-page take-aways for each of the eight regions, formatted for print and distribution at workshops and field days.
Resources for Farmers
Regional PDFs, handouts, and one-page state data sheets. Find your state, see what’s grown, what’s certified, and where the demand is. Free and open, no sign-in.
Download the ResourcesResources for Presenters
The complete toolkit, regional slide decks, the buyer’s landscape presentation, and multi-page handouts formatted for distribution. Everything you need to run a workshop or training session. Requires a short sign-in so we can keep you updated as materials are refreshed.
Download the ResourcesA NOTE ON SOURCES AND TIMING
Market figures come primarily from the Organic Trade Association’s 2026 Organic Market Report, which reports calendar-year 2025 consumer sales.
Production and farm-gate figures come from USDA’s most recent Certified Organic Survey (2021 data) and the 2022 Census of Agriculture. USDA’s next Organic Survey was mailed in December 2025 and will refresh the production picture significantly. Trade figures come from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, as compiled by OTA.
Sources are cited in short form throughout and listed in full at the end of each document.
This research was funded through grants from the USDA Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). The content was developed through a collaboration between the Rodale Institute, the Organic Trade Association, and Wolf & Associates. Thank you to all the TOPP Markets Subgroup partners and farmer and buyer interviewees for their participation and feedback in this work.
We are currently seeking funding for a third iteration of A Farmer’s Toolkit in 2027 to keep these resources current, relevant, and responsive to the evolving needs of organic farmers and markets.
Media Inquiries
For Media Inquiries, please reach out to Natalie Matthews at See.Spark.Go. at natalie@seesparkgo.com.