The UK organic market has seen a 6 percent growth during 2017 and is now worth more than ever before, at £2.2bn.
Launched this week, the Soil Association’s 2018 Organic Market Report reveals the UK organic market has now had six years of steady growth, with organic accounting for 1.5% of the total UK food and drink market.
Key trends highlighted in the report include supermarket sales of organic growing by 4.2% in 2017.
Independent retailers increased sales of organic by 9.7%, and sales for home delivery, including box schemes, grew by 9.5%.
Dairy sales increased by 3.1%, and still have the highest share of the organic food and drink market at nearly 29%. Sales of meat, fish and poultry grew by 4.1%.
Fresh produce, up 6.5%, had the highest value growth, equating to over £20m in sales.
Farmland conversion
The report shows that the amount of farmland in conversion to organic rose 22%, as farmers responded to the rise in demand for organic produce.
And with payment windows now open for Countryside Stewardship in England and the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme in Scotland, the amount of farmland being converted to organic is expected to keep rising.
With ‘organic’ increasingly considered synonymous with ‘health’, the report states that people interested in health and wellbeing are increasingly opting for organic fresh produce.
For some farmers, alternative routes to market coupled with the increased consumer interest in food provenance, have been crucial to their success.
'Trust'
Helen Browning, Soil Association Chief Executive said that increasingly, people are supporting organic farmers by "putting trust" in their produce.
“Trust is something that’s increasingly important: people want to understand where their food has come from, how it has been produced, and more and more shoppers want to buy local and British,” Ms Browning explained.
“The customer is increasingly interested in the provenance and traceability of their food, and this is an area organic can really deliver on.
“While the domestic market is expanding, UK organic products also have a great reputation overseas, so securing the right trade deals post-Brexit could bring further export potential for organic produce.”
