A new study, “Mapping the Minnesota Food Industry,” by Ken Meter of the Crossroads Resource Center, Minneapolis, concludes that an emerging cluster of food businesses drives economic change by building trust with their commercial partners. Author Ken Meter said, “The most successful firms are creating new ways of doing business, not only providing higher quality foods. They do this by building relationships of trust with both suppliers and customers.” Meter’s study was based on a thorough financial review of Minnesota’s food industry, combined with interviews of area farmers, processors, retailers, and distributors.

By Carolyn Dimitri, and Lydia Oberholtzer, USDA Economic Research Service

Organic foods now occupy prominent shelf space in the produce and dairy aisles of most mainstream U.S. food retailers. The marketing boom has pushed retail sales of organic foods up to $21.1 billion in 2008 from $3.6 billion in 1997. U.S. organic-industry growth is evident in an expanding number of retailers selling a wider variety of foods, the development of private-label product lines by many supermarkets, and the widespread introduction of new products. A broader range of consumers has been buying more varieties of organic food. Organic handlers, who purchase products from farmers and often supply them to retailers, sell more organic products to conventional retailers and club stores than ever before. Only one segment has not kept pace—organic farms have struggled at times to produce sufficient supply to keep up with the rapid growth in demand, leading to periodic shortages of organic products.

Download the report at: http://ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB58/

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has published two new resources for organic farmers and others interested in organic agriculture. The 52-page Organic Farm Performance in Minnesota report offers detailed information about the cost of production and the profitability of organic farming in Minnesota. The report also compares the economic performance of organic farms enrolled in the Farm Business Management Program in 2006 and 2007 with those enrolled in 2008, as well as comparing the performance of organic and non-organic farms enrolled in the program.

A second publication is the 2009 Directory of Minnesota Organic Farms. More than 250 of the estimated 650 certified organic farms in Minnesota are included in this handy directory.