This month the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published the first non-GE/GMO weekly report.

AMS publishes the new report every Wednesday to provide prices for non-GE/GMO corn and soybeans. The non-GE/GMO weekly report aims to help producers that are thinking about transitioning to organic production, according to Craig Morris, Deputy Administrator of the Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program at AMS.

Morris’s office has received numerous calls from companies and producers in search of information showing there is a market for products during the organic transition period. Although products cannot be certified organic during the transition period, the products are non-GMO and there is demand for them, he said.

AMS will expand the non-GE/GMO weekly report in the future by including additional commodities and different geographic regions. The agency has broad discretion to provide voluntary market reports that empower producers with data.

“Whenever we see a market building, we really want to go in with our voluntary reporting . . . If there’s a marketplace out there, we want to provide transparency to it.” -Craig Morris, Deputy Administrator of the AMS Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program

Some of the most recently added reports have focused on sustainable agriculture markets. In 2013, AMS began publishing a weekly report on grass-finished beef. AMS will launch four additional reports this fall:

• pasture-raised pork;
• free-range chicken;
• farm-raised catfish; and
• commodities grown by American Indian tribes.

Local and regional market reports, such as those related to farmers markets or local procurement, are another area of growth for AMS. Morris said his office has received a lot of requests from states and schools that want to feature locally raised commodities on certain days of the week. Data from AMS allows them to better understand how much local procurement will cost.

Producers can get in touch with Morris or other members of the AMS market research team to provide feedback on the new non-GE/GMO weekly report or request data related to other market areas.