Organic by the Numbers

Just how big is organic? And how fast is it growing? TreeHugger readers have shared their own organic experiences in an instant survey...now the German Farmers' Association (Bauernverband) has published some hard and fast statistics on the situation in Germany, a country often perceived as a leader in the bio and organic fields.

The growth rates make China's economy appear to be in slow motion: organic carrots took the lead with 50% growth over last year. Fresh fruits are up 42%, and starting from the strongest sales volumes fresh vegetables grew 31% over previous year's performance. Sounds good, but when you look at the figures for market share the story demonstrates that organic has a long way to go: in 2005, bio-fruits constituted only 2% of the overall fruit sales, organic vegetables hold only 4% of the veggie pie.

Surprising finding: the growth is not in the individual fresh foods markets but in the discount groceries. 7 out of every 10 organic carrots sold came off the shelf of a discount market and almost every one of the leading discounters now offers organic options. The net effect is that organic specialty stores now retain only 7% of the overall market for organic foodstuffs.

source: ::Umwelt Journal (German)
photo: ::bigfoto

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