The end of a year and the beginning of a new one – a time for the Organic Trade Association to reflect on our successes during the past 12 months, and this year more than ever, to look ahead at the challenges in store for all of us.
Our association started 2024 with an eye on the future and the introduction of the expanded leadership team of co-CEOs Tom Chapman and Matthew Dillon. With collectively more than four decades of experience in organic across the industry, these two organic champions have truly been dynamic collaborators who have ensured that the trade association is well positioned to support the continued growth and improvement of the evolving organic sector.
The American organic sector is bigger than ever. U.S. sales of certified organic products are at record levels, even as inflation has pressured consumers. OTA’s 2024 Organic Industry Survey reported that organic sales closed in on the $70 billion mark in 2023, a new high for organic. Consumers are clear-eyed about their priorities in the products they chose for themselves and their families, valuing health and sustainability, and seeking out the USDA Organic label.
And there’s more good news. We partnered with Euromonitor International in a survey of around 1,200 folks across the country to see what today’s consumers think about organic, and the findings show a deep trust for the USDA Organic seal. The Organic seal is trusted by 70 percent of consumers – the most trusted of any agricultural label, and the second-most trusted food label existing, second only to the American Heart Association’s iconic checkmark.
Our trade association is working hard to help our organic producers and businesses gain new markets, both in the U.S. and around the world. We’ve been awarded new grants from the USDA to deepen consumers’ understanding of all of organic’s scientifically proven benefits and enlarge organic markets at home. Our international trade team secured record funding to help organic exporters promote their products globally.
Our membership has shown their commitment to organic like never before. During the year, 240 of our members volunteered their time to take part in 45 meetings of member councils, task forces and forums. Our Advocacy Day in May – our annual member-wide fly-in to DC to advocate for organic – saw 148 of our organic champion members meeting on Capitol Hill with 161 congressional offices, including face-to-face meetings with 30 members of Congress.
Looking ahead – challenges and opportunities
We all know that we’re entering a new political landscape in 2025. Organic has lost some important champions on Capitol Hill and in the administration. Incoming members of Congress and policy makers will need to be educated about the many benefits of organic, and of the need to provide the support necessary for organic to expand. The Organic Trade Association has been preparing and strategizing on the most effective ways to advocate for organic in this new climate, and we are up to the task.
It’s often said that elections have consequences. But elections also provide opportunities, and, for the organic community, the opportunity to engage with lawmakers and policy makers and advocate for organic has never been greater. We look forward to collaborating with our members to continue organic’s forward trajectory.
2025 will mark an important milestone for this association. It will be the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Organic Trade Association. When we were first formed in February of 1985, we were called the Organic Foods Association of North American or OFPANA. OFPANA was changed to OTA later that year. Much has changed since then.
We were created to be an organic association that could advocate for its members and develop a set of unified guidelines for organic standards. We wrote the benchmark “Guidelines for the Organic Food Industry” which helped set the groundwork for the Organic Foods Production Act in 1990 and ultimately the publication of the National Organic Standards by USDA in 2000.
We’ve never stopped fighting for the organic industry in 40 years, and we’re not going to stop now. We’re just getting started. With your help in the coming year, organic will continue to progress, enriching the health of our environment and our people.
A Happy New Year to All. Together we grow Organic.