In 2024, U.S. organic sales hit $71.6 billion, a 5.2% increase from the previous year. But behind this growth, the infrastructure that supports domestic organic farming and processing is struggling to keep pace at a time of urgent need.

As industry leaders, we know that growth without investment is unsustainable. Our domestic supply chain-farmers, processors, logistics providers-are facing outdated facilities, limited processing capacity and rising competition from imports. For example, organic food imports have surged from less than $1 billion in 2011 to over $5.7 billion in 2024. That's a clear signal: our infrastructure is lagging our ambition to our collective disadvantage.

To secure and continually grow the domestic organic market, a strategic approach is needed, and public investment will be essential. An organic infrastructure bill, such as the Domestic Organic Market Expansion (DOME) Act, can leverage private investment and enhance organic food's benefits for the U.S. economy. Rural communities will benefit from a thriving organic marketplace that creates jobs and supports businesses to compete with foreign competitors.

We know the U.S. organic industry faces unique scale and geo-spatial limitations to the aggregation and processing of organic supply. The accessibility of value-added manufacturing, the storage and distribution options for organic, and the required segregation and other regulatory complexities are unique to organic and are often a lesser problem for our conventional counterparts. Additionally, many of the businesses and farmers advocating for these investments are split operations - having both conventional and organic offerings. DOME will help more conventional producers and manufacturers who want to pick up the slack on domestic organic production.

At PURIS and CROPP Cooperative-Organic Valley, we've seen this work firsthand and we know it can be done. Our companies have been building domestic organic supply chains for over 40 years. We have invested in processing capacity, farmer partnerships, and resilient systems that prioritize transparency. But we didn't get here overnight, and we didn't get here alone - state, federal and local collaborations helped make that happen.

Our ability to invest in organic processing infrastructure has been possible because we've been committed to this work for decades. But in today's organic global economy our nation needs to make strategic farm policy decisions to truly scale domestic organic agriculture. Without it, the U.S. risks falling further behind other countries, and worse, risks flooding our market with imported organic products, which can also make us vulnerable to fraud. Fundamentally it means the value of our nation's organic market is captured in other countries instead of U.S. farmers and businesses.

It's been nearly seven years since a farm bill was passed, stagnating and sidelining organic infrastructure innovation and progress. The time is now for leadership, and we are calling on Congress to redouble efforts to advance a farm bill and invest in organic infrastructure. By doing so, we will ensure the economic momentum of organic will start, stay and enrich U.S. farmers, U.S.-based businesses and communities while delighting consumers who are recognizing the value of organic and are demanding more of it.