Demand for organic produce

Organic crops are mainly concentrated in areas specializing in high quality produce and where the demand for organic produce is relatively high, e.g. the province of Verona (29% of the regional organic land) and the province of Venezia (26%). 

Consumer demand for organically produced goods began to rise sharply during the 1990s, providing market incentives for farmers across a broad range of products. In... 

The widespread adoption of the sustainable consumption model will be affected by the market. Continued preference for convenience foods acts against the model whilst it is anticipated that the launch of the Biosiegel label, the national equivalent of the EU standard for organic food, will boost demand for organically produced food. 

The two countries with the largest demand for organic produce, the EU and the US, have developed an organic certification scheme that deals not only with domestic organic certification and marketing, but also with international trade, that is, import issues. 

Surveys show that the consumers are interested in organically produced food and that they are willing to pay more for these products. To secure domestic agricultural production, it is important to meet the demand for organically produced food with Norwegian production as far as possible. 

Two major trends in the industrialised world are the demand for convenience food and awareness of the need for healthy eating patterns. The trend is away from generic foods towards processed products, for example, as we have seen, there is a growing demand for organic frozen desserts and items such as frozen pizzas. Many supermarkets see a potential for surplus products in freezing and canning surplus produce (FAO, 2002). The popularity of functional or healthy foods is also a potentially lucrative area for organic produce, especially dairy products. 

Table 6.7 Own and cross price elasticities of demand for organic and conventionally produced dairy products in Denmark...

Table 6.8 provides a more comprehensive set of estimates of own-price elasticities of demand for organic products, compared to the conventional equivalent, this time for the UK. In all cases the response of consumption of organic products to change in price is about double that for conventional produce. 

With the advent of modern fertilizers, seaweed fell out of use because of the ease of application of formulated pesticides and because the contamination of seaweed washed up on beaches with plastic waste (fishing lines and ropes, bottles, etc.). With the onset of green agriculture and the increasing demand for organically farmed produce, seaweed use as a fertilizer has come back into fashion. 

The market power of the British multiple retailers is undisputed. Having decided to respond to public demand for organic products, they now account for some 74% of organic sales (Soil Association 1999, p. 27). Smaller organic producers, once courted by multiples concerned to attract the organic customer (whose trolley is worth significantly more than... 

---