WSU Extension Specialist helps author report on worldwide organic horticulture

Washington Ag Today January 12, 2011 Organic horticulture is growing in countries around the world. That’s what an article says that was co-authored by Washington State University Extension educator David Granatstein. The article “Organic Horticulture Expands Globally” was published by the International Society of Horticultural Science in its December 2010 edition.

Granatstein says the piece helps to paint a detailed picture of organic food production around the globe and reflects dramatic increases in the global industry.

Granatstein: “One of the challenges though is knowing how much of this is due to better reporting versus actual expansion of the production area. That is something we can‘t really say but we do know that more countries are reporting their organic area and more are reporting to the level of crop detail, which is critical for us.”

Granatstein also says China is a major organic horticultural producer but it does not report any crop detail.

Granatstein: “So we don’t know if they would swamp the data we get from other countries. We just don‘t know what that looks like and that is the big uncertainty in the results.”

Of the countries reporting in detail, Mexico has the largest area of organic horticulture in the world followed by Italy, Spain and the United States. Granatstein’s article notes that organic horticulture accounts for about one percent of all horticultural land worldwide and six percent of all organically managed agricultural land.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo