June 17th, 2026
A note on timing: Federal organic policy is evolving quickly in 2026. Several facts in this update, such as the status of the Farm Bill, the release of certification cost share payments, and staffing levels at USDA, are time-sensitive and may change in the coming weeks.ย
Organic has never been more popular. The system that supports it has rarely been more stressed.
American shoppers are buying more organic food than ever. In 2025, U.S. sales of certified organic products reached a record $76.6 billion, growing 6.8 percent in a single year, roughly double the growth rate of the conventional grocery market. If that pace holds, the organic sector may cross $100 billion in annual sales by 2030.
Yet the farmers who grow that food, and the federal programs designed to help them, are facing growing headwinds. Certification cost share payments already approved by Congress have been slow to reach farmers. The federal division that protects the integrity of the USDA Organic seal has lost a significant percentage of its staff. And the 2026 farm bill, the once-in-roughly-five-years law that funds most of this work, is only halfway through Congress, with key decisions about organic still to be made. The popular cost share program whose funding was locked in through 2031 saw its 2025 payments frozen before reaching farmers.ย
This update explains where U.S. organic policy stands in mid-2026, why it matters, and what it means for farmers and consumers in the Southeast.
Organic by the numbers: a market that keeps growing
For the third year in a row, organic has outpaced the broader food market, growing about twice as fast. Fresh fruits and vegetables remain the heart of the category, accounting for nearly a third of all organic sales.
The demand is driven by generational factors as much as economic. Millennial and Gen Z shoppers are now the fastest-growing group of organic buyers, drawn by an interest in health, ingredient transparency, and how their food is produced. Grounding all of it is the USDA Organic seal itself, a federally regulated, voluntary third-party-verified label that consistently ranks as one of the most trusted claims in the grocery store.
That demand is an opportunity for growers in the Southeast. The Southeast was slower than other regions to develop a large organic sector, but it is catching up fast: North Carolina now ranks among the top ten states in the country for organic farmgate sales. Regional demand still outstrips local supply, which means there is room for more Carolina farms to capture premium organic prices, if they can navigate the path to certification.
By the numbers (2025)
- $76.6 billion in U.S. organic sales,ย an all-time record
- 6.8% annual growth, vs. 3.4% for the comparable conventional market
- ~30% of organic sales come from fresh produce
- On track to reach $100 billion by 2030.ย
The Organic Framework
To understand the current policy situation, it helps to understand how the system is organized.
The National Organic Program (NOP) is the office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture that writes organic rules and enforces them. The NOP is the reason “organic” means something specific and consistent, rather than being a marketing buzzword any business could slap on a label.
A citizen advisory board called the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) reviews which substances may and may not be used in organic farming and processing, a list known as the “National List.” The board meets publicly and takes comment from farmers and the public; it last convened in May 2026, and a proposed update to the National List was open for public comment that same month.
Most federal farm and food programs, organic included, are funded and authorized through the Farm Bill. When people ask whether organic programs will be funded, they are usually asking what the next Farm Bill will contain.
Normally the Farm Bill is where these organic programs are preserved. But in July 2025, a separate budget law, the reconciliation package known as H.R. 1 (the โOne Big Beautiful Bill Actโ), stepped in and locked in mandatory funding through 2031 for a set of smaller organic programs that had been left orphaned without a stable budget. One of these programs is the Organic Certification Cost Share Program, outlined below. Now that key organic programs are already funded for several years to come, even before the new Farm Bill is finished, the debate has shifted toward the administration of the organic programs themselves.
Two federal assistance programs matter most to organic and transitioning farmers:
- The Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) reimburses farmers for up to 75 percent of their certification costs, capped at $750 per certification category. For a small farm, this can be the difference that makes certification affordable.
- Organic research programs, such as the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, fund the science behind sought-after pest and soil management resources.
Before a farm can sell anything as certified organic, it must be managed under organic rules for a full three years, without yet earning organic prices. That three-year stretch is a financial valley, and it is precisely where cost share dollars, mentorship, and technical help make the difference between a farmer getting certified and giving up.
The 2026 Farm Bill: a pivotal moment
The biggest organic policy story of the year is the Farm Bill now working its way through Congress.
On April 30, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) by a vote of 224 to 200, the furthest a farm bill has advanced since the last full reauthorization in 2018. Because the 2025 reconciliation package has already settled funding levels for many organic programs, including cost share, this Farm Bill is focused less on how much money exists and more on the rules for how it is spent.
For organic policy, the House bill is a mixed bag:
On the positive side, it includes language from the Organic Dairy Data Collection Act, a step toward giving the struggling organic dairy sector the market data it needs. It also contains an amendment that would direct USDA to develop “risk-based” organic certification procedures, with the goal of making certification less burdensome for low-risk operations.
On the concerning side, the bill reduces funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), a conservation program many farmers rely on to pay for the practices that transitioning to organic requires, by an estimated $1 billion over four years. Conservation funding and organic transition are tightly linked, so cuts here ripple outward.
Senate action: As of June 2026, the bill has passed the House but not the Senate. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman has indicated that the Senate’s own version is expected to be released imminently, with a committee markup tentatively planned for later this summer. A Senate bill will need 60 votes to advance, requiring bipartisan agreement.ย
Existing programs under strain: the support gap
Even as Congress debates the overdue Farm Bill, the day-to-day machinery of organic support is showing significant strain. The strain is less about funding (with funding secured through 2031) and more about capacity. The open question is whether USDA has the staff, the functioning systems, and administrative follow-through to get authorized money and oversight out the door.
The certification cost share program illustrates the distinction perfectly. Despite secured funding, the reimbursements are struggling to reach farmers. As of spring 2026, USDA had not opened the 2025 application and payment cycle and provided no firm timeline for doing so in 2026. The holdup appears administrative, with a 43-day federal government shutdown in the fall of 2025 and reduced staffing at USDA. Still, the effect on farmers is real. A $750 reimbursement may sound modest, but for a small operation it can be the margin that makes certification worth pursuing, and a check that arrives a season late is a check that missed the budget it was meant for.
- Cost share timing and amounts: The program’s funding through 2031 is settled, but the schedule for opening the 2025 (and 2026) application and payment cycle has been shifting; farm groups have been told payments could be issued in 2026, possibly combining both years.ย
The National Organic Program, the office that polices organic fraud and protects organic integrity, has lost roughly a third of its staff over the last 18 months. An understaffed NOP has a harder time collaborating with certifiers, responding to clarification inquiries, processing paperwork and enforcing label claims, which threatens the very trust that makes the organic premium possible.
The NOSB board is also currently down five members from the required 15; including a certifier seat, two farmer seats, and two public interest seats. The NOP can assist with the nomination process, but USDA must still appoint, and that is taking much longer than usual.ย
USDA also canceled 49 of 50 active contracts under the Increasing Capital, Land and Market Access program for underserved farmers, a setback for efforts to make organic agriculture more accessible for all producers.
In late 2025, USDA announced a new $700 million “Regenerative” agriculture pilot program. Rather than injecting new money, the program redirects an estimated $400 million from EQIP and $300 million from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). “Regenerative” has no federal legal definition the way “organic” does, and it is possible a loosely defined label could siphon resources away from the established, verified organic transition pathway.
Future impacts on the Southeast
Through the Southeast Transition to Organic Partnership Program, CFSA has spent time listening to organic and transitioning farmers across the region to better identify the obstacles they face. The barriers they describe are consistent: the cost and paperwork of certification, the financial gap during the three-year transition, and access to organic markets and buyers once they are certified. Each of those barriers connects directly to a federal program discussed above: cost share, transition support, and the market integrity the NOP protects.
The opportunities for producers are real. Demand for organic products is strong and growing, the Carolinas have momentum, and the path to certification is well-documented. But that opportunity only remains if federal organic support remains dependable and predictable: affordable certification, funded research, a credible seal, and dependable cost share support. When those supports waver, the farmers who feel it first are the small and mid-sized operations that are the foundation of the Southeastโs local food system.
What you can do
If you farm: Connect with CFSA and regional certifiers for hands-on help with transition and certification, and watch closely for the cost share application window so you don’t leave money on the table.ย
If you eat: Keep choosing the USDA Organic seal, and know that it represents a verified, federally enforced standard.
If you care about the food system: The Senate is writing its Farm Bill right now. This is the moment when public input has the most influence over what organic support looks like for the next five years. Sign up for CFSA’s Action Alert emails to be the first to know when it’s time to share your feedback with legislators.
Sources
Beyond Pesticides Daily News (January 8, 2026) โ $700M Regenerative pilot program and funding diversion.
Civil Eats, “USDA Payments for Organic Farmers Delayed” (April 1, 2026); FreshFruitPortal (April 2026) โ cost-share delays.
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association; organictransition.org (Southeast TOPP) โ regional program details, focus-group findings, North Carolina organic ranking.
National Organic Coalition, Farm Bill update (June 10, 2026) โ Senate timeline and markup expectations. nationalorganiccoalition.org.
New Hope Network / Food Business News (2026) โ analysis of OTA report, generational buying trends, category growth.
Organic Farmers Association, March 2026 and May 2026 Policy Updates โ organic provisions in H.R. 7567, EQIP cuts, NOP staffing, canceled equity contracts. organicfarmersassociation.org
Organic Trade Association, 2026 Organic Market Report (released March 2026) โ U.S. organic sales, growth rates, consumer trends. ota.com
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service / Federal Register โ National Organic Standards Board May 2026 meeting; National List proposed rule (Docket AMS-NOP-22-0029).
U.S. House of Representatives, Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567); Congress.gov; Congressional Budget Office score (cbo.gov/publication/62376); GovTrack (House passage, April 30, 2026).
ย The development of this resource was supported through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP).
