Jill Auburn
jsauburn@ucdavis.edu
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July 20, 1994
NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Bob Scowcroft
408-426-6606
OFRF RELEASES FINAL RESULTS FROM FIRST NATIONAL SURVEY OF
CERTIFIED ORGANIC FARMERS
The Organic Farming Research Foundation has released the final
results of the first-ever national survey of certified organic
farmers. Funded by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation,
this survey identified the nation's organic farmers' research and
educational priorities and collected valuable demographic data on
the size and scope of the nation's organic farming operations. The
eight page survey was mailed to over 2,700 certified organic
farmers representing 54 verification agencies and generated 550
responses from growers in 39 states.
"The results of this survey will help clarify a number of
questions continually raised about the organic farming industry,"
said Bob Scowcroft, OFRF's Executive Director. "We expect to
develop a set of research priorities from this survey and present
them to key policy makers at the state and federal level," he
added.
The top three research priorities identified by the organic
growers are: increase consumer demand for organic products; study
the relationship of growing practices to crop quality and
nutrition; and, study the relationship between plant nutrition and
pest resistance. The lowest research priorities are: identify
organic export opportunities; develop export/trade policies; and,
study animal nutrition/feed and supplements.
Organic farms are family farms: 84% of respondents are sole
proprietors or family partnerships. On average, the respondents
have been farming twenty years, ten of them organically, and they
average 46 years old. Three-fourths are male. Over two-thirds have
completed college, and one-fifth hold graduate degrees, in
everything from anthropology to zoology.
The survey was developed by a steering committee composed of
growers, researchers, and a Coop Extension agent. It was produced
by OFRF Program Coordinator Erica Walz and OFRF Board member Jill
Auburn Ph.D., Associate Director of the U.C. Davis' SAREP program.
Grower meetings to develop the questions were conducted in Oregon,
Iowa and Pennsylvania. The survey was pre-tested by an additional
eight growers.
The final 15 page survey results is now available. For a copy
of the 1993 National Organic Farmer's Survey, please send $5 (to
cover postage and handling) to: OFRF, P.O. Box 440, Santa Cruz,
California 95061. For more information on the Survey Results or the
Organic Farming Research Foundation, please call Bob Scowcroft at
408-426-6606.
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