The USDA has released its annual count of certified organic operations calculated from the USDA National Organic Program Organic INTEGRITY Database.
The number of certified organic operations worldwide grew to 45,578 in 2020 with 28,454 — more than 62 percent — located in the United States. California remains the leader domestically with more than 5,000 certified operations. The Great Lakes Region, Pacific Northwest, and Iowa continue to round out the top ten.
Federal organic regulations currently require certifiers to annually submit a set of basic facts regarding all certified operations to the Organic Integrity Database. The database also includes many optional fields, like acreage, that can aid in oversight and enforcement.