Does organic farming present greater opportunities for employment and community development than conventional farming? A survey-based investigation in California and Washington

ABSTRACT

Organic farming may present opportunities for job creation over and above those provided by conventional agriculture; this study is one of a small number to have empirically examined this proposition. We compared countywide averages of hired farm labor from the USDA’s 2007 Agricultural Census with data collected through a mirrored survey of organic farmers in the same counties in Washington and California. Based on mixed-effects linear models to estimate differences (if any) in employment between organic farms and countywide farm averages, our analysis indicated that organic farms employed more workers per acre (95% CI: 2–12% more). Further, a greater proportion (95% CI: 13–43% more) of hired labor on organic farms worked 150 days or more compared to the average farm, suggesting increased labor requirements—and potentially more secure employment—on organic farms. We conclude the present study by considering possible policy implications of our findings with regard to organic agriculture as part of regional economic development strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Organic farming
• conventional farming
• employment
• labor
• regional economic development

Notes

1. This classification of workers in the US agricultural data goes at least as far back as the 1954 census (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1956, Volume II, Ch. IV, p. 235).

2. Six responses were from farms that were outside the scope of the survey, as they were located in another state; were no longer farming organically; or had gone out of business.

3. Three additional tables report the research findings from an aggregated perspective (see Appendix). These tables present and compare the number of workers per acre on organic farms and the average farm by county.

4. Conversion to organic and its effects on agricultural land demand is heavily contested within the “land sparing vs. land sharing” debate, which we will not cover here. In short, the effects of conversion to organic agriculture on agricultural land expansion and biodiversity are not neither straightforward nor uniformly tied to expansion (Fischer, Abson, and Butsic et al., 2014; Salles et al., 2017).