There’s often no lack of choices when it comes to selecting certified organic produce. Organic lettuce, onions, apples, and bananas are often in the season. Certified eggs and milk too are available. But reach for a box of certified organic cereal, rice, or other manufactured grain product and, well, your choices of brand and imaginative options begin to decline.

Sure, there’s organic cereals and manufactured products on the shelf, but according to Kashi, the Kelloggs company known for its organic whole grain product line, there’s not enough. Manufacturers are having a hard time keeping up with demand for organic products. By 2014, manufacturers of organic grain products were already predicting a shortage. North Americans’ demand for organic products was increasing, but many farmers weren’t willing to certify their acreages.

The reason for this reluctance, says Kashi, is that it takes three long years for a farmer to transition a field to organic acreage in order to certify under an organic certification program. During that time, many such farmers aren’t being paid on par with their efforts.

In 2016, the company rolled out a new initiative to help encourage more farmers to transition to organic farming. It connected with Quality Assurance International, an organic product certification organization and created a new transitional certification program for farms that hadn’t yet met the benchmarks of certified organic farming, but were willing to do so.

Kashi has also been providing premiums to farmers that are willing to make the switch to organic. As of this month, the company says, those premiums will amount to roughly $1million in additional pay to transitional organic farmers.

Read the full article about Kashi boosting farming by Jan Lee on TriplePundit.