Demand for organic foods is primarily concern for personal health and concern for the environment. Organic products typically cost 10 to 40% more than similar conventionally produced products. According to the USDA, Americans, on average, spent $1,347 on groceries in 2004; thus switching entirely to organics would raise their cost of groceries by about $135 to $539 per year ($11 to $45 per month) assuming that prices remained stable with increased demand.
Processed organic foods vary in price when compared to their conventional counterparts. But organic food doesn’t always cost more. Some items, such as coffee, cereal, bread, and even hamburger, may cost the same or even less than their conventional counterparts. And, as the demand for organics continues to grow, the cost will continue to come down. When the cost is higher, consider these facts:
- Organic farmers don’t receive federal subsidies like conventional farmers do. Therefore, the price of organic food reflects the true cost of growing.
- The price of conventional food does not reflect the cost of environmental cleanups that we pay for through our tax dollars.
- Organic farming is more labor and management intensive.
- Organic farms are usually smaller than conventional farms and so do not benefit from the economies of scale that larger growers get.
While organic food accounts for 1–2% of total food sales worldwide, the organic food market is growing rapidly, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations. World organic food sales jumped from US $23 billion in 2002 to $52 billion in 2008. The world organic market has been growing by 20% a year since the early 1990s, with future growth estimates ranging from 10%–50% annually depending on the country.
United States
- Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American food marketplace.
- Organic food sales have grown by 17 to 20 percent a year for the past few years while sales of conventional food have grown at only about 2 to 3 percent a year.
- In 2003 organic products were available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and 73% of conventional grocery stores.
- Organic products accounted for 3.7% of total food and beverage sales, and 11.4% of all fruit and vegetable sales in the year 2009.
- Two thirds of organic milk and cream and half of organic cheese and yogurt are sold through conventional supermarkets.
Canada
- Organic food sales surpassed $1 billion in 2006, accounting for 0.9% of food sales in Canada.
- Organic food sales by grocery stores were 28% higher in 2006 than in 2005.
Europe
In the European Union 3.9% of the total utilized agricultural area was used for organic production in 2005. The countries with the highest proportion of organic land were Austria (11%) and Italy (8.4), followed by the Czech Republic and Greece (both 7.2%). The lowest figures were shown for Malta (0.1%), Poland (0.6%) and Ireland (0.8%). In 2009, the proportion of organic land in the EU grew to 4.7%. The countries with highest share of agricultural land were Liechtenstein (26.9%), Austria (18.5%) and Sweden (12.6%).
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