We at Aurora Organic are “Organic Expansionists”. We believe in expanding organic as a way to transform American agriculture and to protect the earth and our vital natural resources. We see organic as the way to clean up the mess that has been created by the mis-management of farms and the mis-allocation of scarce resources. For us, organic is a way to protect the overall health and well-being of our interconnected life-systems: soil, plants, animals and humans. We believe in the need to reduce the vast amounts of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, sub-therapeutic antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones seeping into our water, earth and bodies. Organic management techniques will restore ecosystems and bring balance back to our farms and communities. It is our goal to see organic agriculture and processing become the rule, not its exception.
Currently, the total number of organic acres under cultivation represents a tiny fraction of the total agricultural acres. Similarly, organic dairy represents a mere 2% of the total dairy sold and consumed in the United States. Even a three- or four-fold increase in the total organic milk consumed would bring about significant changes in agriculture. We are working towards this overall category increase.
Ten years ago, organic dairy was a very small and limited part of the organic industry, with few producers and even fewer products. Since then there has been strong growth of 20% or more annually for sales of organic dairy. The category has grown both on the farm and in the marketplace, and at every level of size and scale. During this period, the number of smaller family dairies has increased from approximately 75 to over 1,300, while the number of large-scale organic dairies has increased from one to about six.
Even at these growth rates, the organic dairy supply has not been able to meet consumer needs. In fact, there has been an average 10-15% organic milk shortfall for a number of years in a row. It is good news for farmers to know that demand exceeds supply, but it is bad news for consumers if the insufficient development of new organic dairies, both large and small, fails to provide enough supply to meet consumers needs. Growing and managing supply is a challenge for us all. In order to keep up with and retain the interest of consumers seeking organic products in general and organic dairy in particular, we have to be there to meet their needs. In order to meet the projected needs, all segments of the organic world are going to have to keep growing.
We are passionately dedicated to the expansion of organics -- through farmer-partnerships to convert land, through training of employees and the development of local, organic economies. We believe in organics as the way towards a healthy, sustainable future that respects and protects life.