Market Size and Growth for Organic Foods

Since 2002, the demand for organic products has been on the rise. While the demand went down slightly during the global economic crisis of 2009, it immediately bounced back to its original position after the recession. In 2012, it is estimated that there was a total of $28 billion in sales. This is approximately equivalent to 4 % of the total food sales. The USDA regulates the production of organic consumer products which accounted for a total of $2.2 billion dollars in 2011 (Greene, 2013).

The production of organic products is dominated by farm produce (vegetables and fruits), and dairy products which accounted for 43 % and 15 % in 2002. It was closely followed by breads and grains, beverages, and packaged foods which accounted for 9 – 11 % and poultry, meat and fish which accounts for about 3 % in sales (Greene, 2013).

The Economic Research Service (ERS) tracks the acreage of economic production to ensure that farmers with a production of over $5000 dollars in sales obtain independent certification in compliance with the USDA standards that were set in 2000. The ERS states that the US had about 3.1 million acres covered with certified organic products in 2011 (Greene, 2013).

As a whole, certified organic cropland comprised of about 0.7 % of the total cropland in 2011. The US field crops like corn, soybeans and wheat comprised of only a small percentage of the production of organic products. On the other hand, vegetables and fruits saw a production of 6 % and 4 % respectively (Greene, 2013).

Agricultural production of organic products is increasing gradually in both developed and developing countries. The competition for the goods in developed countries is thereby increasing leaving US producers challenged to meet the demand in their local market. A majority of imported organic products are tropical products or subtropical. However, soybeans saw the largest growth in market share in 2012.

References

Greene, C. (2013). USDA ERS – Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Industry. Ers.usda.gov. Retrieved 12 November 2014, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013-october/growth-patterns-in-the-us-organic-industry.aspx#.VGOdxmfNkwl