Organic trade reaches $3.4 billion in 2021

The U.S. Department of Commerce actively tracks organic food in 37 export and 57 import categories. Tracked exports and imports of organic products in the United States reached $3.4 billion in 2021. Since 2011, there has been an uptick in the total value of imported organic products, partially because more products are being tracked and partially because more high-value organic products, such as blueberries and squash, are being imported into the United States. The United States also exports organic food, and those exports have been steadily rising since 2011, reaching $0.7 billion in 2021. For example, the United States exported 2.4 thousand metric tons of organic fresh cultivated blueberries, with more than 90 percent headed to Canada in 2021. In the same year, the United States imported 41.5 thousand metric tons of organic fresh cultivated blueberries primarily from Peru (40 percent of the total imports), Chile (32 percent), and Mexico (25 percent). Importers of organic products must either be USDA-certified or belong to a trading partner with an organic recognition agreement with the United States, which allows foreign Governments to accredit certifying agents to USDA organic standards. Countries with such agreements include Canada, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. This chart appears in the ERS topic page Organic Agriculture.

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