INDICATOR

 STATUS

Total Annual Sales The total annual sales at the four local markets are increasing.  Total sales between 2001 and 2006 rose from $7.2M to $11 M, an increase of 53%!  All years except 2003 have experienced an increase from the previous year.

Percent of Sales: Organic & Low Chemical The percent of sales at Santa Monica markets that is organic and low-chemical is increasing, however, there is a definite shift from Organic produce sales to Low Chemical sales.  From 2001 to 2006, organic sales dropped considerably from 44% to 29%.  Conversely, the percentage of  produce grown using low-chemical methods has increased from 37% to 55% in those years.

Percent of Sales: Conventional  The percentage of sales coming from conventionally grown produce has dropped slightly, hovering around $1.7M per year as Organic and Low Conventional sales have grown dramatically. In 2001 20% of sales came from conventionally grown produce. In 2006, that number had dropped to 16 percent.

This year’s Farmers’ Market Sales document the shift occurring nationwide of small organic farms dropping their organic certification process in favor of a low chemical process for financial or philosophical reasons, continuing to farm without chemicals in a way they feel is sustainable.  This year, 9 farmers who formerly farmed organically have dropped their organic certification.  This represents over $1 Million in Gross Farmers’ Market sales switching from Organic to Low Chemical! These farmers continue to supply food which is comparatively healthy, avoiding synthetic chemicals; and genetically modified organisms.  It is also, by and large, locally grown.

The nationwide shift from organic to low-chemical sales referenced above may be the result of the onerous cost of becoming and remaining certified organic to small farmers who sell at the Farmers’ Markets.  Some believe the word “organic” and its processes have been co-opted by the federal government and giant agricultural producers, and that it no longer represent their farming methods and philosophy. The concern is that as these stalwarts eschew the organic standard, however flawed it is, the availability of sustainably farmed food will decline because the, the entirely unregulated term, low-chemical is a less dependable indicator of sustainable farming practices.