States with the Biggest Organic Food Footprint

Which state has the biggest organic food footprint? The answer depends on how you measure it—and the states that produce the most organic food aren’t always the ones where organic farming has sunk the deepest roots into the land itself.

Total sales volume tells only part of the story; the real measure of an organic agricultural economy is its concentration. Which states have actually woven organic farming most deeply into their physical borders and local economies?

To answer that, we analyzed the latest state-level data from the USDA’s Certified Organic Survey, U.S. Census Bureau state land area data, USDA farm acreage data, and state population estimates. Together, those metrics show not just where organic food production is largest, but where organic farming is most deeply embedded into each state’s land and agricultural economy.

But before we dive into our detailed findings and methodology, let’s take a look at some of the key takeaways from our research. (Jump down to see our methodology)

Which U.S. States Have the Biggest Organic Food Footprint?

To create the Organic Footprint Intensity Score, we weighted three factors: the percentage of a state’s farmland that is certified organic (50%), organic acres as a share of total state land (30%), and organic production value per organic acre (20%).

This approach measures not only where organic production is largest in absolute terms, but where organic farming has the strongest presence relative to each state’s land base and agricultural economy. This analysis draws from the USDA’s 2021 Certified Organic Survey, released in December 2022, which provides the most recent comprehensive state-level data on certified organic farms, acreage, and sales.

Two Paths to a High Ranking

Looking across the top 10, two different paths emerge:

• Some states, like Maine and New York, rank highly because organic farming takes up a larger share of their total farmland.
• Others, like Georgia, Washington, and North Carolina, rank highly because their organic farms generate strong sales from a relatively small amount of land.

At the other end of the ranking, organic agriculture makes up only a tiny fraction of the overall agricultural land in states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, whose organic footprints fall below 1% of their farmland.

Why California Ranks Fourth Despite Leading in Total Sales

California is the country’s organic powerhouse by any measure of total production, generating around 32% of the nation’s organic sales. No other state even comes close.

But this ranking looks at more than total sales. It also weighs how much of a state’s farmland is organic and how much value each organic acre produces. Vermont doesn’t produce nearly as much organic food as California — $153 million versus $3.55 billion — but organic agriculture represents a far larger share of Vermont’s overall farmland.

ORGANIC FOOTPRINT INTENSITY RANKING

Alaska and Delaware were excluded from this ranking because USDA withheld their organic sales data.¹ ² ³

Vermont Stands Out by a Wide Margin in the Organic Footprint Ranking

Nearly 17% of Vermont’s farmland is certified organic, compared to roughly 1% of U.S. farmland nationally. Vermont’s intensity score of 81.07 is more than three times higher than second-place Pennsylvania’s at 25.04.² ³

The state’s dominance goes beyond farmland percentages. When measured as a share of total state land, Vermont dedicates 3.30% of its entire geography to organic agriculture, a figure no other state matches. The state also leads in organic farm density relative to population, with 107 certified organic farms per 100,000 residents — more than 13 times California’s rate of 7.8 farms per 100,000 people.¹ ³ ⁴

That concentration fits with what we know about Vermont’s broader local food culture. A previous Escoffier analysis found that Vermont ranked highly for direct-to-consumer farm sales and local food infrastructure, indicating the central role of smaller-scale, community-connected agriculture in its food system.

Vermont vs. California: Organic Intensity vs. Organic Scale

Vermont’s top ranking may surprise people who look at California’s sheer volume. But comparing the two states side by side makes the distinction clear.¹ ² ³ ⁴

California operates far more certified organic farms (3,061 versus 693) and cultivates vastly more organic acres (813,710 versus 203,083).³ By any measure of total production, California dwarfs Vermont. But this ranking measures where organic farming has achieved the deepest integration into a state’s agricultural landscape, not which state produces the most organic food overall.

High Total Sales Doesn’t Mean Large Organic Footprint

The states generating the most organic food by dollar value aren’t necessarily the ones where organic farming dominates the agricultural landscape.

Organic Footprint Ranking by Total Sales

While they don’t all lead in organic land share, the top five states alone drive roughly 60% of all U.S. organic sales.³

The West Coast’s concentration at the top of this list reflects its large-scale organic growing infrastructure and the high-value crops, such as fruit, vegetables, and nuts, that dominate production there.

Pennsylvania represents the Northeast’s production strength, while Texas makes the top five despite ranking 35th in the intensity rankings. Its agricultural land base is large enough to generate substantial organic production even when certified organic farming represents a small fraction of total farmland.

Why Some States Produce More Organic Sales From Fewer Acres

Not all organic acres represent the same kind of production. One acre of organic vegetables, fruit, greenhouse products, or poultry can generate far more in sales than one acre of organic hay, field crops, or rangeland. That gap in value per acre is one reason organic food economies look so different from state to state, even when the raw acreage numbers seem comparable.

Top 10 States by Organic Sales per Acre

Georgia leads the nation with $11,799 in organic sales per acre, followed by Pennsylvania, Washington, New Jersey, and North Carolina.³ In Georgia, that value comes largely from products such as chicken eggs, blueberries, and onions, rather than peaches. Washington benefits from high-value fruit crops such as apples, while Pennsylvania generates substantial organic sales from livestock, poultry, and mushrooms.

At the other end, Wyoming generates just $127 per organic acre, with Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota also among the lowest in the dataset.³ These states tend to devote more organic land to pasture, hay, and broad-acre crops, which generally produce less revenue per acre.

Farmers cannot simply switch to the highest-value products. Climate, soil, water, labor, infrastructure, and access to processors and buyers all influence what can be grown profitably. This helps explain why Georgia, Washington, North Carolina, and New Jersey rank highly despite having relatively little organic acreage: much of their production is concentrated in higher-value products.

What the Rankings Show About Organic Agriculture in the U.S.

The biggest takeaway from the ranking is that organic agriculture has more than one kind of footprint. California remains the country’s organic production giant, but Vermont leads when organic farming is measured against farmland, total land area, and production value per acre.

The results also show how regional food systems shape organic agriculture. In some states, organic farming is deeply woven into the agricultural landscape. In others, organic production is smaller by land share but generates high value from specific crops or products.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE STATE OF FOOD IN AMERICA? CHECK OUT THESE ARTICLES NEXT:

• Food Waste in America: Which States Produce the Most Food Waste?
• Best and Worst U.S. States for Access to Locally Produced Food
• Sweet Tooth Nation: Which States Lead in Sugar Consumption?

Methodology and Notes

To create the Organic Footprint Intensity Score, we used state-level data from the USDA’s 2021 Certified Organic Survey, along with state land area data from the U.S. Census Bureau and 2021 population estimates, the most recent information available.

The final score was based on three weighted factors:

• Percentage of farmland that is organic: 50% of the score
• Organic acres as a percentage of total state land: 30% of the score
• Organic production value per organic acre: 20% of the score

Each metric was normalized before weighting so states could be compared on the same scale. This helped account for major differences in state size, total farmland, population, and agricultural economies.

The ranking includes 48 states. Alaska and Delaware were excluded because the USDA withheld their total value of certified organic agricultural products sold to avoid disclosing data for individual farms. Because production value per organic acre is part of the score, states without available sales data could not be scored consistently.

For this analysis, total state acreage was calculated by converting square miles to acres using 640 acres per square mile. The percentage of farmland that is organic was calculated by dividing certified organic acres by total farm acreage. Organic acres as a percentage of total state land was calculated by dividing certified organic acres by total state acreage. Organic production value per organic acre was calculated by dividing total certified organic sales by certified organic acres.

This ranking measures certified organic production footprint, not organic food consumption. Sales figures reflect the value of certified organic agricultural products sold by farms in each state. They do not show how much organic food residents of each state buy or eat.

Sources

(1) U.S. Census Bureau. “State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates.”
https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/2010/geo/state-area.html

(2) USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. “Quick Stats: Farm Operations — Acres Operated by State, 2021.”
https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/24A633A6-2022-3C87-8E37-E908D08F9B01

(3) USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. 2021 Certified Organic Survey. Released December 2022.
https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/zg64tk92g/2z10z137s/bn99bh97r/cenorg22.pdf

(4) U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. “Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021 (NST-EST2021-POP).” Released December 2021.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/2021-national-state-population-estimates.html