California and Texas are home to 86 percent of all USDA-certified organic rice growers in the United States

In June, USDA’s Organic Integrity Database (OIDB) reported 173 certified organic rice growers in the United States, 86 percent of which operate in California and Texas. The OIDB is managed by the USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service National Organic Program and reports all USDA-certified organic operations in the United States and abroad. Arkansas, the largest conventional rice-producing State, has two certified organic growers. In 2016, the 109 certified organic rice producers in the United States accounted for 32,000 harvested acres, 140 million pounds produced, and nearly $43 million in farm sales of organic rice, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service Certified Organic Survey. Compared to the previous year, 2016 U.S. organic rice acreage increased by 11 percent and production increased by 10 percent, although this still was less than 1 percent of the total 2016 U.S. rice production of over 2.2 billion pounds. This chart appears in a special article on the U.S. organic rice market in ERS’s July 2018 Rice Outlook newsletter.