Farmers doubled the nation's organic crop acreage in the 1990s, and production of organic eggs and milk increased even more to meet rising consumer demand, the government says. The amount of certified organic cropland grew from 403,000 acres in 1992 to 850,000 in 1997.

The number of organic laying hens jumped from 43,981 to 537,826 during the same period, a time when public concern about bacterial contamination of eggs was on the rise. The number of organic milk cows grew from 2,265 to 12,897. 'Organic farming became one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture during the 1990s and producers, exporters and retailers are still struggling to meet consumer demand,' according to a study by the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service.

Organic farming is still a very small part of U.S. agriculture, however. About 0.2 percent of U.S. cropland was certified organic in 1997, compared with 1.5 percent in Europe, where farmers are offered government aid to convert to organic agriculture.

The amount of organic pasture and rangeland actually declined from 1992 to 1997, from 532,000 acres to 496,000 acres. Economists say organic production of meat and poultry lagged during the decade because they could not be labeled as organic until February 1999. One can also click here for the recently proposed federal organic certification program.