Organic Food Sector Growing, Despite Economy

The organic industry grew at a rate of nearly 8% in 2010, bucking the current trend whereby “flat is the new growth” for many other segments of the economy, USAgNet reports. Furthermore, some sectors of the organic market enjoyed annual growth of well over 30%, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) revealed in their Organic Industry Survey. The survey also showed that in 2010, the organic industry grew to over $28.6 billion.

“While total U.S. food sales grew by less than 1% in 2010, the organic food industry grew by 7.7%,” said Christine Bushway, OTA’s CEO and executive director. “Consumers continue to vote with their dollars in favor of the organic choice. These results illustrate the positive contribution organic agriculture and trade make to our economy, and particularly to rural livelihoods,” Bushway said.

Experiencing the most growth, organic fruits and vegetables, which represent 39.7% of total organic food value, and nearly 12% of all U.S. fruit and vegetable sales, reached nearly $10.6 billion in 2010, up 11.8% from 2009 performance. Organic dairy, the second-largest category, experienced 9% growth to achieve a value of $3.9 billion and captured nearly 6% of the total U.S. market for dairy products. ◆