Improving USDA’s public price and volume data for an equitable organic food value chain

Abstract

Since 1915, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Market News has supported a key element of our agricultural economic system: equity in access to pricing information between buyers and sellers and across operations of various sizes. Today, the privatization of agricultural information and market concentration in the food system make this public data source especially important for supporting a more fair and stable market for the growing organic sector. In this study, we use a mixed-methods approach to explore how AMS Market News organic price and volume data can be improved to better support organic agrifood system actors. Based on 26 interviews and 227 survey responses from organic producers, processors, distributors, and retailers across California, we find consistent interest in increased organic market data presented in visual formats with trend explanations, despite only limited direct reliance on Market News organic data throughout most of the sector. We also identify three main areas where Market News organic price and volume data could be improved: the data interface should be made more accessible and informative, inaccuracies and gaps in the data should be addressed or explained, and efforts to include more organic specialty crops should continue. These improvements will help the development of a more robust public source of organic market data that could especially benefit smaller-scale operations, given the increasing corporate consolidation in the agrifood system.