The Salinas Californian
by Francoise Chanut
Think specialty retailers and farmers' markets are the only place to find organic lettuce, spinach or strawberries? If so, think again.
Half of the organic food produced in the United States is sold in large supermarkets, Said Katherine DiMatteo, an organics expert who addressed about 200 people Wednesday luring "Big Organic," this year's third Ag Forum Luncheon at the National Steinbeck Renter in Salinas.
By contrast, farmers' markets account for 4 percent of organic food sales, and chain Retailers, such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats, account for 19 percent, said DiMatteo, Executive
Director of the Massachusetts-based Organic Trade Association.
No longer solely the staple of environmentally conscious, left-leaning consumers, organic :ood is going mainstream, DiMatteo said, offering an exhaustive survey of organic-food .rends in the United States.
The organic share of the food market is now 2 percent, generating $10.4 billion in
revenue in the United States, she said. The industry has grown steadily since the 1990s and has doubled since 1999, DiMatteo said. Driven principally by consumer demand, further growth is expected, she said.
DiMatteo said organic shoppers range from a core group who buy it consistently --
regardless of price -- to a peripheral category for whom price remains the top priority, .n between are "midlevel" shoppers whose motivations vary but often include a desire to .void chemicals as a health concern, DiMatteo said.
Tight organic standards devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture played a crucial role in attracting shoppers to organic products, she said.
If it was not for organic standards, you could not guarantee the products' consistency and gain consumer confidence," she said.
'All buyers start with produce, then they go to dairy," DiMatteo said. As a result, 4.5 percent of the fresh produce sold domestically is now organic, while other popular organic items make up no more than 2 percent of their respective markets, DiMatteo said.
[n Monterey County, the surface area farmed organically almost tripled between 1998 and >002, from 4,700 to 13,000 acres, Agricultural Commissioner Eric Lauritzen said during introductory remarks. Organic produce value reached $128 million, nearly 5 percent of the county's total fresh produce revenue in 2002.
'The consumer demand for organic products is moving organic farming from a niche to an Lndustry," Lauritzen said before the forum, citing Earthbound Farms as an example.
Earthbound Farms grows mostly lettuce and fruit on 24,000 certified organic acres, many .n the Salinas Valley, and sells in seven out of 10 supermarkets in the United States according to Tonya Antle, Earthbound's vice president of organic sales, who also spoke at ;he forum.
Antle said consumers want choice and will shop where it's convenient. She described the mainstream organic consumer as a "time-pressed shopper with six seconds to decide what's 'or dinner."
Contact Francoise Chanut at Francoise.Chanut@gannett.com
originally published Thursday, January 27, 2005
lopyright (c)2004 The Salinas Californian. All rights reserved.
