The market for organic foods is continuing its explosive growth, according to new data from federal agriculture officials. Harvest Public Media’s Luke Runyon has more.
Last year, the country’s certified organic farms sold five and a half billion dollars in organic products. That’s a 72 percent increase in six years. The goods that brought in the most cash were organic milk, eggs, chicken, lettuce and apples.
Colorado State University economist Dawn Thilmany says more consumers are demanding organic options, and grocery stores are responding.
“As the concept of organic becomes its own brand name sort of, we’ve seen more and more products adopt it as a way to differentiate themselves or to grab a niche of the consumer market,” he says.
The data also show a significant crossover in foods marketed as both “organic” and “locally-grown.” 80 percent of all organic products in the U.S. traveled less than 500 miles from the farm to the point of sale.