Super Eco

Photo credit: Trellina @SuperEco pool, flickr

Remember when "they" said that organic food was a specialty market that would never expand past the folks with plenty of disposable income? "They" can eat their (organic) words: a new report from the USDA shows that the American appetite for organic food continues to outstrip supply. Organic sales have ballooned more than five-fold since the late 1990s, yet production has only slightly more than doubled. Organics accounted for three percent of total American food sales in 2008.

It's not just the foodie crowd that's buying, either. Organic fans come from literally every demographic group. The Center for a Livable Future offers this analysis:

The clientele fueling this demand is far more diverse—and at times surprising—than any pigeonholed assumptions about the typical organic consumer. According to recent surveys, African Americans spent the most on organic produce in 2004. The same year, lowest household income (less than $25,000 per year) was correlated with the highest per capita spending on organic produce. In general, there is little or no substantial differentiation across race, age, education, geography or income among the growing population of Americans who purchase organic products.

Makes sense to us—we all want to eat healthy food, don't we? We'll be interested in seeing how locally grown foods factor into the demand for organics. Recent surveys suggest that consumers would prefer to buy local over organic, so we're hoping that a hunger for one supports the growth of the other. Any way you slice it, those who've crowed for years about organics being the province of "elitists" can take this news as a true sign of the times. The times, they are a-greenin'!