OCA often talks about our long term goal: making organic and regenerative food, farming, and land use (and natural health) the norm, rather than just the alternative. As our longtime ally Vandana Shiva points out, this would be “the solution to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the climate crisis, and the crisis of democracy.”
Following recent policy reforms and recommendations in the European Union, strongly supported by our organic allies in the EU, we need to raise our expectations and our demands in the US and North America. We need to set a goal of 25% of food and farming being organic by 2030, or as soon as possible.
In global terms this means we need to do everything we can to make certain that 25% of the world’s 600 million farmers become certified organic by 2030.
There are currently 13.4 million producers certified as organic globally, and an estimated (by the UN) 55 million more farmers producing organically or near-organically, but who are not yet certified for one reason or another. Presently there 16 nations in the world with 10% or more of their farmers certified as organic. The global market for certified organic food and products is projected to be $437 billion dollars in 2026. OCA’s goal, as part of a global movement, is to help the certified organic market grow to a trillion dollars by 2030, or as soon as possible thereafter. There are currently over 180 million acres of agricultural land certified as organic and 50 million acres of grazing lands under holistic livestock management. We need 1-3 billion global acres under organic and regenerative management, as soon as possible.