Field crop, vegetable, fruit, and livestock listings in the questionnaire were selected by the survey committee from the listings used in the national surveys conducted by the Organic Farming Research Foundation. Products not known to be grown in Ohio were left out of the Ohio survey. Eggplant and hogs were inadvertently left out of the listings, although each was written in once by respondents.
Tables 5, 6, and 7 report acreage figures for organically grown field crops, vegetables, and fruits, respectively. During the analysis, it became clear that the average acreage devoted to each vegetable or fruit crop was not as important as the median value since large acreage tended to skew averages upward. Mean or average and median values are based on the number of producers who actually grew the crop. For the horticultural crops, the 75th percentile of acreage was also determined to provide more information. Also, the relative number or percentage of producers actually growing each crop is listed.
Table 5. Acreage Information on Ohio Organic Agronomic Crops. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Agronomic Respondents (n=78) | Mixed Farms (n=21) | Transition Farms (n=13) | Totally Organic Farms (n=44) | |||
| Acres | Acres | Acres | Acres | |||
| Avg. Org. Field Crop Area | 120.4 | 125.4 | 60.3 | 139.5 | ||
| Median Org. Field Crop Area | 73.0 | 67.5 | 60.0 | 75.0 | ||
| % of Farms | % of Farms | % of Farms | % of Farms | Average Acres | Median Acres | |
| Hay: harvested | 55 | 50 | 50 | 59 | 36 | 25 |
| Hay: grazed (pasture) | 45 | 40 | 50 | 45 | 22 | 20 |
| Corn: livestock feed | 41 | 50 | 30 | 39 | 25 | 16 |
| Soybeans: other | 41 | 50 | 0 | 45 | 91 | 46 |
| Wheat | 36 | 40 | 30 | 36 | 67 | 45 |
| Clover | 32 | 30 | 20 | 36 | 47 | 39 |
| Alfalfa | 31 | 40 | 30 | 27 | 28 | 20 |
| Corn: other processing | 23 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 30 |
| Oats | 18 | 15 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| Spelt | 16 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 61 | 20 |
| Soybeans: feed | 15 | 15 | 20 | 14 | 30 | 26 |
| Rye | 14 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 78 | 19 |
| Hairy Vetch | 9 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 59 | 25 |
| Popcorn | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 19 | 19 |
| Sunflowers | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 21 |
| Barley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | - |
| Buckwheat | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 40 | - |
| Dry Beans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | - |
| Sudex | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | - |
| Turnips | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | - |
Table 6. Acreage Information on Ohio Organic Vegetable Crops. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Organic Vegetable Farms (n=73) | Mixed Farms (n=12) | Transition Farms (n=13) | Totally Organic Farms (n=44) | ||||
| Ac | Ac | Ac | Ac | ||||
| Avg. Org. Veg. Area | 2.56 | 13.36 | 1.56 | 2.55 | |||
| Median Org. Veg. Area | 0.981 | 0.76 | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| % of Farms | % of Farms | % of Farms | % of Farms | Average Acres | Median Acres | 75th Pct Acres | |
| Alliums: onions, garlic, shallots | 49 | 73 | 43 | 53 | 0.233 | 0.025 | 0.250 |
| Asparagus | 23 | 55 | 14 | 21 | 0.260 | 0.023 | 0.252 |
| Brassicas: cabbage, broccoli, kale | 56 | 91 | 57 | 57 | 0.198 | 0.023 | 0.138 |
| Chenopods: beets, chard, spinach | 52 | 73 | 29 | 60 | 0.203 | 0.021 | 0.086 |
| Composites: endive, lettuces | 47 | 73 | 29 | 60 | 0.219 | 0.057 | 0.319 |
| Curcurbits: cukes, melons, squash | 51 | 64 | 43 | 57 | 0.219 | 0.057 | 0.319 |
| Cut Flowers | 32 | 18 | 14 | 43 | 0.352 | 0.040 | 0.500 |
| Herbs: culinary and medicinal | 48 | 36 | 29 | 62 | 0.561 | 0.011 | 0.031 |
| Market Beans | 49 | 64 | 14 | 60 | 0.910 | 0.042 | 0.500 |
| Market Peas | 41 | 55 | 43 | 45 | 0.344 | 0.046 | 0.458 |
| Mushrooms | 7 | 9 | 0 | 9 | * | ||
| Ornamentals: annual or perennial | 16 | 18 | 14 | 19 | 0.718 | 0.011 | 0.096 |
| Peppers | 62 | 91 | 71 | 64 | 0.155 | 0.023 | 0.087 |
| Potatoes | 44 | 73 | 29 | 47 | 0.314 | 0.063 | 0.500 |
| Sweet Corn | 45 | 64 | 57 | 47 | 0.771 | 0.500 | 1.00 |
| Tomatoes | 66 | 100 | 71 | 68 | 0.256 | 0.063 | 0.209 |
| Umbels | 8 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 0.263 | 0.021 | 0.273 |
| * No area calculated -- One producer reported by number of logs inoculated with mushrooms. | |||||||
Table 7. Acreage Information on Ohio Fruit and Tree Growers. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Organic Fruit and Tree Growers (n=30) | Mixed Farms (n=9) | Transition Farms (n=3) | Totally Organic Farms (n=18) | ||||
| Ac | Ac | Ac | Ac | ||||
| Average Area | 0.868 | 1.20 | 0.58 | 0.73 | |||
| Median Area | 0.268 | 0.13 | 0.58 | 0.19 | |||
| % of Farms | % of Farms | % of Farms | % of Farms | Average Acres | Median Acres | 75th Pct Acres | |
| Pomes -- apples, pears | 53 | 44 | 33 | 61 | 1.535 | 0.126 | 0.551 |
| Brambles | 43 | 56 | 33 | 33 | 0.497 | 0.069 | 0.354 |
| Strawberries | 33 | 67 | 0 | 22 | 0.076 | 0.028 | 0.041 |
| Blueberries | 27 | 11 | 0 | 39 | 0.209 | 0.016 | 0.219 |
| Grape | 23 | 22 | 33 | 22 | 0.512 | 0.069 | 0.627 |
| Stone Fruit -- cherries, plums | 23 | 22 | 0 | 28 | 0.173 | 0.024 | 0.027 |
| Nut crops | 7 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | - |
| Christmas trees | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1.0 | - | - |
Two relatively large organic vegetable operations were not included in the acreage figures. One was a grower with 130 acres of organic vegetables, of which 110 acres were processing tomatoes, 10 acres were processing cabbage, and 10 acres were processing peppers. The other farm solely produced herbs on 30 acres.
Hay grown for harvesting is the most frequently grown field crop. Tomatoes, peppers, and brassica crops are the three most frequently grown vegetable groups among organic growers surveyed.