Organic Farmers Are Worried About Getting Squeezed by Big Business

Organic food growers—many of whom take pride in tending tiny apple orchards or chicken flocks—will have to sharpen their big-business negotiating skills in the months ahead as consolidation creates a shorter list of major customers. Amazon.com Inc.’s $13.6 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. is unlikely to be the last giant deal as others in the retail and food manufacturing industries try to profit from consumers’ changing tastes. Already, sales of organic goods are moving away from mom and pop outfits toward huge retailers such as Costco Wholesale, Wal-Mart Stores, and Kroger.

The shift worries farmers such as Doug Crabtree, who grows organic crops including grains, pulses, and flaxseed in Montana and also sits on the Organic Trade Association board. “We need more smaller entities, not fewer bigger entities,” says Crabtree. “It makes me nervous at best.”