Analyzing Organic Food Farming Trends in the US Western Region

Abstract

At a time of mounting fears over the risks of tainted food and the environmental health impacts, people are embracing organic farming in record numbers. The way such alternative food items are displayed in grocery stores in every zone in the country gives credence to the growing acceptance. Since its emergence, organic farming has gained formidable foothold in the Western region where California towers above everyone and other parts of the US. Considering the reasons that originally fueled organic farming and the proliferation across the country, access to more varieties of produces are helping supplement output originating from conventional sources. Further along these lines, elements located within the organic farm structure from size of land area, cropland and food types have increased over time. While the surge in organic farmland use stems from socio-economic forces, ecology and policy factors, very little has been done in assessing the changing trends and the state of organic farm operations using a mix scale technique. Added to that, the guiding standards shaping the regulatory components of organic farm produce and the potentials are barely known. For that, this research will fill that void by focusing on organic farming activities in 10 states in the Western region with emphasis on the issues, trends and factors using secondary data under mix scale techniques of GIS and descriptive statistics. The results point to visible changes in farmland indicators from cropland, food types to output volume in organic farm operations coupled with dispersion of emergent spatial patterns highlighting the extent of organic farmland use and the evolution of other indicators across the states using GIS. Realizing that the changes surrounding organic farming activities in the study area emanate from socio-economic and physical elements, the paper offered seven suggestions to strengthen the sector. The recommendations ranged from the need for a periodic tracking of farm operations to the design of a regional organic land use and food index.