The end of organic food market?

Organic food has become a popular choice for health-conscious Britons. As the credit crunch hits, people may abandon organics for a cheaper alternative.

For some time now, there has been a growing market in Britain for organic food. But with the credit crunch forcing thrifty shoppers to cut back and with food prices generally rocketing, could our love for organics be starting to wilt?

During her pregnancy with Amelia, Pen Turnbull made sure every item of food she bought was organic. But recently, like other shoppers we spoke to, that’s changed.

“Especially with sort of store cupped-type foods, so cereals and honey and things like that. I’m no longer buying organic and trying to keep the fruit and vegetables mainly organic.”

“And anecdotally for your all friends, people you know, other moms, is it a similar scenario?”

“Yeah, definitely in the playgroups and NCT meetings that everybody’s starting to notice the difference.”

Figures compiled for Sky News show the organics market has grown steadily over the last decade. This year, April is the first month to show a downturn on the year before. But what will be really telling is what happens to organic sales in the months to come.

The fact is organic food is generally more expensive. Take chicken for example. We worked out the average price of two chicken breasts weighing 500 grams from the Big Four supermarkets. The organic option would cost you 8.45 pounds, the next best thing; the premium version would set you back 6.22 pounds. While the value chicken, one of the meal stuff, would cost 3.68 pounds. So have the super markets noticed any difference of the tilts?

“I think the interesting thing to watch over the next year is the rate of that growth compared to previous years, where we are seeing price becoming a much bigger factor than it's been in previous years.”

Advocates of the organic movement say retailers have yet to report any falloff in sales. And despite the critics, they believe organic farming can still feed the world.

“The main thing that's driving up the price of food in the long run is the price of oil, because most food is produced from oil-based fertilizer. Organic food's produced from the sun’s energy. So actually, organic food is less prone to these price rises than non-organic food.”

But with food inflation forecast to rise even higher, the proof in the organic pudding will be what happens at the check-outs over the next few months.

Catherine Jacob, Sky News.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. credit crunch

A "credit crunch" is a recessionary period in a debt-based monetary system where growth in debt money (or "credit") has slowed and subsequently causes a drying up of liquidity in an economy.