The 2019 Certified Organic Survey is a special study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and is part of the 2017 Census of Agriculture program. The primary purpose of the survey is to collect value of sales information at the commodity level along with acreage, production, and practices data for a variety of certified organic crop and livestock operations. This is the sixth comprehensive organic survey NASS has conducted and the first since the 2016 Organic Survey.
In 2019, Wisconsin ranked second in the nation for the total number
of certified organic farms with 1,364 farms. That is just over 8% of the nation’s total number of organic farms. There were 250,940 acres of certified organic farmland in Wisconsin. This was an increase of 31,674 acres from 2016.
Cow milk had the highest total value of sales of organically produced commodities in Wisconsin with $125.7 million in sales. On December 31, Wisconsin producers had 31,747 certified organic milk cows on hand, and comprised 9% of the national inventory. Wisconsin’s certified organic milk cow inventory ranked fourth among other states, behind California, Texas, and New York.
Wisconsin ranked first and produced 17% of the Nation’s organic corn silage, with sales totaling $589,884.
Wisconsin produced 25% of the Nation’s organic cranberries in 2019.
Thirty-three Wisconsin farms made certified organic maple syrup in 2019. There were 64,568 gallons produced from 179,710 total taps. Sales totaled $2,160,390.
