partment of Agriculture (USDA), organiza- tions associated with the United Nations, the Rodale Institute, the Organic Trade As- sociation and the Organic Center. The report was designed to examine the multitude of benefits that organic agricul- ture can provide as well as identify the key ways in which U.S. agricultural policies could support organic farmers and make organic foods more accessible to all. When the existing scientific literature is reviewed as a whole, it’s clear that organic farming practices are good for human health, economic prosperity and the health of the environment. However, several key challenges have prevented the organic farming industry from growing as rapidly as it could, including lack of public aware-
ness of the value of organic farming; public policy that creates an uneven playing (or grow-
ing) field between organic and nonorganic growers and a lack of research needed to ad-
vance the organic industry. Each person that reads this report has an important role in
helping overcome these challenges.
