The multitude of lines to the left indicate the 32 natural food companies that existed in 1984. The three organizations on the right (Whole Foods bought Wild Oats) indicate the three organic food retailers in the country that have bought them up in the last 24 years. Graphic provided by Prof. Phil Howard, Michigan State University.

by Suzan Erem

With Pennsylvania now ranking third in the nation in organic farm sales, more small farmers than ever are looking to Penn State to provide the research and expertise needed to grow food chemical-free.

And the university, which has for decades pumped out industry-supported research centered on chemically-grown large-scale agriculture, appears to be responding.

“Individual faculty members who have research programs can move much more quickly than the institution can,” explained Charlie White, an extension associate who said his job was created by the effective lobbying of the group to the university’s administration. White’s position is supported one-third by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and two-thirds by Penn State. “So you see a lot of faculty working on organic production but they’ve maxed out the existing facilities. Now the institution has to get up to speed with providing more acreage to do their research.”

White said that an estimated 50 faculty and graduate students participate in the Sustainable Ag Working Group, working to promote sustainable agriculture in the university. He said the group is now working to develop an Organic Agriculture minor and dedicate a research station solely to sustainable agriculture.

Even with new attention paid to it by the U.S.D.A., organic farming still comes to less than 4 percent of total farming in Pennsylvania and the United States. Still, national sales of organic foods have increased more than 20 percent since 1990, according to Prof. Phil Howard of Michigan State University. The industry represented an estimated $17 billion in sales in 2006 and nearly $20 billion a year later. And according to the most recent U.S.D.A. report, organic farms make on average $20,000 more than non-organic farms. It’s a growing trend not lost on ag schools and the food industry.

Howard has also documented the consolidation of organic food retail distribution and published his findings showing that the 32 natural foods companies that existed in 1984 have all been bought up by the three chain stores that exist today, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Planet Organic.

“They must see that it’s a profitable area,” Prof. Mary Barberchek, an entomologist who came to Penn State in 2002 with a research appointment focused on organics, said of the food industry. “It’s definitely one that the food companies see as something worth having since they’re buying up all these companies.”

“There’s definitely growth and it’s really exciting that it is a growing area,” she said, adding that there is also an organics initiative in the College of Agriculture meeting to develop an organics minor. “It’s not a major focus of the college, it’s only like 3 percent of ag production and the college has to serve everyone,” she said.

The college has offered two different pilot classes in organics, co-taught by Barberchek and Heather Karsten and one by Elsa Sanchez. White said that creating classes moves more quickly than creating a major.

“It’s a starting point and they’re leading toward more institutional programming,” he said.

Funding for Barberchek’s organic research comes largely from the federal government, she said. Meanwhile, federal programs for farmers planting “commodity crops” such as corn and soybeans still far outstrips any programs for “specialty crops” that organic farmers are more likely to grow.

In 2009, specialty crops—all fruits and vegetables—received the most support ever, a total of $825 million in federal support through farm programs, according to Environmental Working Group which tracks farm programs. By comparison, commodity crops, five crops including corn, soybeans and rice, received $15.4 billion.

In 2008, the Organic Farming Research Foundation issued a policy brief recommending the new administration support organics research that reflected organic produce’s share of the market, about 4 percent. That alone would more than double the total research funds available to $36 million from $15 million, according to the report.

At Penn State, researchers from a number of departments including economics, rural sociology, horticulture and plant pathology, are teaming up with Pennsylvania Certified Organic and Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, to help farmers develop the more traditional commodity crops organically, for example, organic grains to feed organic herds for dairy or meat, White said.

And Barberchek’s work focuses on weed control and using natural enemies of certain pests to get weeds to an acceptable level, but she also named commodity crops. She and her colleagues are just launching a project to study how to reduce tillage in organic systems.

“We’re really looking at how different methods of managing the soil in organic crop production systems, alfalfa, corn, soybeans, how we can make these systems perform better,” Barberchek said.

Still, there’s a long row to hoe for organic research and teaching.

“My feeling is that at this point there is a huge industrial complex of ag and I don’t see that about to go away for a number of reasons,” White said. “I think you can’t turn your back on that system and just forget about it because it’s going to be running out there, destroying the environment and destroying communities. So you have to engage it to some extent. That’s just a personal feeling.”

Barbechek’s work seems to take her in the same direction. When asked about organic food that isn’t locally grown, she had this to say:

“I still think there’s a great benefit to organic food production even if it’s getting shipped all over the world. There’s less pounds of pesticides going into the environment, you have less workers being exposed to pesticides. Are we going to hold up organic that it has to solve all the problems of the world? It’s still better on many measures than conventional food.”