United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
establish national standards for producing and marketing
organic agricultural products and a system
of mandatory certification and federal oversight to
ensure truth in labeling or organic products (Vandeman
and Hayden 1997). Sales of organic foods
have experienced rapid growth in recent years.
Gross returns increased from $631 million in 1989
to $3 billion in 1996 (Landay 1996). Consumers
pay average premiums of 25–30~o for organic produce
(Morgan, Barber and Greene 1990), and
growers receive up to 250?Z0more for organic products
depending on crop and season (Knoblauch,
Brown, and Braster 1990).