...Mr. Organic's views on organic farming cont.
I think that consumers don’t really understand the food industry and farming in general, which doesn’t help. However, this isn’t a criticism of consumers at all. I think the organic market as a whole hasn’t been able to effectively connect with the wider consumer base to effectively communicate the key messages. I also think that manufacturers of organic products, and organic brands themselves have unwittingly restricted the size of the market due to the high premiums they charge.
This is partly to do with the fact that the organic market is still small and that to make any money you have to have big premiums but it is also quite short-sighted. In effect, consumers just see the higher prices of organic products on the supermarket shelf and say “Why should I pay 25-30% more?” which is fair enough if they don’t know or think about the hidden costs of non-organic food or the added benefits that organic can bring.
If you take into account farmer subsidies for non-organic production, the damage to biodiversity and the environment caused by fertilizer and pesticide use, the long term ill effects of increased nitrogen in our diets (increased levels of death from Alzheimer’s, Diabetes and Parkinson’s), the fact that non-organic farming is totally dependent on the petroleum industry (i.e. fertilizer use)…the list can go on and on…you realise that organic is actually a much healthier option for people and the planet, more cost effective, and the only sustainable option for the future.
It amazes me that when every other industry in the world is looking to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, few people are taking this into consideration when they look at the farming industry. I guess the consumer doesn’t really make the connection and so it’s up to Mr Organic to bring it to light!
Another different but related point is that non-organic food production has become so cheap now that the average household spend on food has less than halved in the last 20 years. In 2007 I think that households here in the UK spent about 8% of their income on food with the USA “leading” the way at around 5%. You just have to look across the pond to see what a disastrous effect cheap food is having on the health of the nation…we’re heading in the same direction and this will become an increasing burden on the tax payer through the NHS.
So all in all it’s about educating the consumer on healthy eating and how organic farming can help the environment and cut down on green house gas emissions but also give them a viable option in terms of price. Although organic food is more costly to grow, the other production costs are or should be equal to those producing non-organic products. We therefore believe that if we only pass on the premium associated with the farming element and we don’t inflate prices unnecessarily we can get many more people on board.
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