Organic Crop Practices, Knowledge, Perceptions, and Preferences: A Survey of Producers and Consumers

Consumers’ demands for organic crops continue to rise at the regional and national levels in the USA as people become more conscious about the quality of the food they eat. The purpose of this project was to determine the practices, knowledge, perceptions and preferences of stakeholders in the 14 counties of the Delmarva Peninsula which includes the entire State of Delaware, and portions of Maryland, and Virginia. Therefore, an 18-question survey was developed and tested with 50 self convenient participants recruited during the small farm conference at UMES in fall 2008. The surveys were revised and mailed in spring 2009 to 300 stakeholders using the small farm conference list serve.  A total of 70 surveys were returned. The respondents were from the 14 counties of the Delmarva Peninsula and five other neighboring counties (3 in Maryland, 1 in Virginia and 1 in Pennsylvania). Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0.  Descriptive statistics and cross tabulation were computed.   Approximately 51% of the respondents were 24 to 54 years old and 49% were 55 years or older.  Most of the respondents (72%) were engaged in farming which included crops and livestock.  Fewer than 30% of the farmers grew both organic and inorganic crops, and less than 10% grew organic alone.  Growers of organic foods produced an array of fruits, vegetables, herbs and raised some animals. Ten to 15 % of these growers produced tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, watermelons and cucumber organically. At least a half of the producers were knowledgeable about production costs, marketing, farming practices for crop safety, and quality of organic crops, while fewer than 50% knew about the practices for growing certified organic.  Lack of time and the time to certify for organic farming were the two most cited reasons for farmers not growing organic. Both the farmers and non farmers believed that organic crops are safe, high quality and high cost. Those farmers who were not involved in organic production indicated their desire of doing so.  Opinions and knowledge are disparate among the Delmarva stakeholders. Thus, there is a need to provide the farmers with more information on how to grow and market organic produce, and also the cost involved.