U.S. Closing Organic Gap; Reliance on Organic Corn Imports May End Within Decade

The U.S. organic sector appears to be closing in on a major benchmark - after years of weathering global markets, regulatory issues, and fraud, the country is closing in on self-sufficiency in organic feed corn production.

As recently as the 2016/17 marketing year, U.S. livestock producers had to import nearly half of the organic corn their animals consumed. However, over the ensuing years these imports have been declining, with a view to achieving self-sufficiency within the next five to 10 years, according to Ryan Koory, director of economics with organic commodity trading firm Mercaris.

Given the current pace of production growth, the U.S. is short by only 59,000 acres of organic corn to meet demand. And considering how organic corn prices are still commanding a premium - which has remained consistent over traditional corn, despite a spike in traditional corn prices, and Cargill alone has undertaken to expand organic corn acreage by 50,000 acres, closing the acreage gap is within sight.

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