According to the Organic Trade Association’s 2010 Organic Industry Survey, U.S. sales of organic products continued to grow during 2009 despite the distressed state of the economy. It found that organic product sales in 2009 grew by 5.3 percent overall to reach $26.6 billion. Of that figure, $24.8 billion represented organic food. The remaining $1.8 billion were sales of organic non-foods.

Experiencing the most growth were organic fruits and vegetables, which represented 38 percent of total organic food sales and reached nearly $9.5 billion in sales in 2009. Organic fruits and vegetables now represent 11.4 percent of all U.S. fruit and vegetable sales, according to the OTA survey.

In other news related to organic produce purchases and the economy, PMA consumer research from last summer found that 5 percent of survey respondents said they were purchasing less organic produce to lower their costs at the store. Our study also discovered that when it comes to organic produce and local produce, 19 percent of respondents said it was more important to buy organic fruits and vegetables than local; yet 75 percent said it was more important to buy local produce than organic. To learn more about PMA’s Healthy Eating Trends 2009 study, visit the PMA Web site.

Tags: Consumption, Sustainability

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