In addition, she said, marketing is the key to increased organic vegetable production. It is kind of hard to persuade a dairy farmer to plant an acre of carrots if you can t promise them a market, Day said. The major impediment in conventional farmers switch to organic, she said, is they are afraid they won t be able to sell it. A primary focus of the new association is educating buyers. The demand for organic agricultural products has been growing the past decade, Day said, increasing by 20 percent in the 1990s, by 30 percent in 1998, and 40 percent in 1999.
Supply is far short of demand and prices for organic products reflect that scarcity.
For the next year or so, she said, the association will act as the marketer for those in central Maine who are interested. Eventually, we would like to create a farmer-owned corporation or cooperative, said Day. All rights reserved.