The annual growth rate of organic food sales between 1990 and 2017 reached a double digit ranged from 12% to 21%, far outpaced the growth of products conventionally produced . In 2106, the total sales of organic products had grown to $47 billion .The fast-expanding US organic market was partially attributed to the strong demand due to an increasing number of consumers’ preference for buying and consuming organic foods. The niche market had embraced as high as 69% of US consumers and they were willing to pay the premium prices for organic products .The driving forces behind include growing concerns about health, valuing food safety, environmental shepherd, and animal welfare. The conversion to organic foods was particularly significant in consumers’ favor for organic produce .While the solid demand for organic products unfolded in both domestic and international food markets, the supply side revealed a relatively stagnant growth within the United States.
Overall, organic production has not kept pace with the growth in demand, organic farms are struggling, and organic handlers are challenged for procuring enough. At the very upstream of supply chain, organic farming remains a tiny share, accounting for about 0.55% of the total US farm land .The shortage of supply along the organic chain has been much in evidence for years in the United States. When it comes to the major barriers, studies point to low yields, higher costs,hydroponic channel unstable product quality, the cost of certification, price premiums, imports, limited organic inputs, and the lopsided competitions . Some others render explanations with focuses on psychological and sociological costs , on uncertain legislative environment , on security of marketing channels, on input constraints , and the perceptions of farmers . While the varieties of investigations did cover a broad area, the results are mixed. The lack of consensus regarding the influential factors and their impact on organic conversion calls for more quantitative analyses based on good survey data, and some studies based on econometric models step forward to quantitatively address the choice of farmers on the conversion to organic production and reached conclusions that related organic farming to the age and gender of operators, farming acreages, levels of education, and urban-raised farmers, which did not fully resonate with some early analyses, but provided a more informative vision.
Despite the progress, a closer look at the limited studies finds a problem of small sample size, which is linked to problematic estimates of impacts in spite of their significance in statistics. This is a well-recognized issue to many, but has a tendency to repeat itself due to the predicament in organizing interviews and collecting data. Consequently, conflicts remain even in this category of studies. The situation merits more studies with the well-designed survey instruments and relatively large samples to ensure more accurate and consistent estimates of the impacts of influential factors in the small-farmers’ decision-making on the conversion to organic production.This study has its focus on the choice of small farmers in the conversion to organic production and is aimed to identify the factors of the influence and validat etheir impacts on farmers’ decision on the conversion to organic production.Based on a large survey data in the Southern region of the United States,the authors examined farmer’s attitude, perception, farms characteristics, features of the local community, social demographic factors, and so forth. The results supplemented some conclusions of early studies and offered a deeper understanding of choices of farmers in the conversion to organic farming in the United States. A broad survey and econometric modeling featured this study make the analysis ready to the empirical application and bring about the important implications for understanding the complex organic conversion process and for making workable and effective polices to support the small farms in the United States. The data used in this study came from a broad interview with small farmers in Southern region of USA in 2014.