National survey reveals that Wisconsin is a big player in organic farming

The Cap Times reported on February 11th that according to statistics released February 10th, 2010 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Wisconsin comes in second place for the number of organic farms in the state, surpassed only by California.

Wisconsin’s 1,222 organic farms cover 200,000 acres of land.  According to the survey, organic farms earned a similar income to mainstream farms (about $132 million), though the yearly expenditures of organic farms was somewhat less than other general types of farms.  The majority of income on organic farms comes from selling cow’s milk.

In a press release about the USDA survey on February 10th, Governor Doyle stated, “Farming is the heritage and the future of Wisconsin. “We’ve worked hard to strengthen and diversify agriculture across the state, and organic farming is one of the areas where Wisconsin is leading the way.”

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