Sales of organic food are exploding. In 2013, Americans spent $35 billion on organic foods, a 12 percent increase over 2012. Organic food sales in 2014, which haven’t been compiled yet, will likely top that number.

Major retail chains such as Kroger, Target, and Wal-Mart are making major commitments to sell more organic food. General Mills plans to double its organic product sales in the next five years. Even McDonald’s plans to serve organic items in its restaurants.

Demand Outstripping Supply

While consumer demand for organic is booming, the supply of organic ingredients and agricultural products, particularly grains and animal feed, lags far behind.

“The demand for organic has skyrocketed, but with a three-year transition [to organic production], the supply hasn’t caught up,” says Errol Schweizer, executive global grocery coordinator at Whole Foods Market. “There has been a mass awakening among consumers for organic, but not a mass awakening in the farming community.”

Organic grain shortages, for both food and animal feed, are a particular bottleneck to the expansion of the organic market. The shortages have created competition for organic farmers and forced companies to import large amounts of organic grain from Canada, Eastern Europe, and South Africa.

It is difficult to determine the organic supply shortage, says Nathaniel Lewis, senior crop and livestock specialist at the Organic Trade Association (OTA). “We only have anecdotal reports on how many tons and acres are needed,” he says, adding that OTA is working to get data on imports of organic grains.

Lewis says that one organic food company had to shelve two or three new product lines because of doubts about sufficient supplies of ingredients.

At General Mills, organic demand is twice as great as supply, according to Beth Robertson-Martin, who handles the company’s sourcing of organic ingredients, though she adds that “it depends on the crop.”