Expression GreenExpressing the need for a healthy green lifestyle

The mar­ket for organic foods is grow­ing dra­mat­i­cally. It is esti­mated that organic sales of food prod­ucts through super­mar­kets, mass mer­chan­dis­ers and nat­ural super­mar­kets was $3.6 bil­lion in 2006 in the U.S., dou­ble the fig­ure in 2000. The Organic Trade Asso­ci­a­tion esti­mates that the total organic food and bev­er­age sales were $13.8 bil­lion in 2006.

The organic rev­o­lu­tion is a global phe­nom­e­non wit­nessed in every cor­ners of the world and coun­tries -

Argentina, Aus­tralia, Aus­tria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Den­mark, Fin­land, France, Ger­many, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mex­ico, Nether­lands, New Zealand, Sin­ga­pore, Thai­land , Turkey, UK, USA and other countries.The pri­mary demand dri­ver for the increased con­sump­tion of organic food is health con­cerns. Con­sumers are increas­ingly inter­ested in foods that are free of pes­ti­cides, and other health risks

Organic farm­ing is also a viable means of sus­tainance for small farm­ers in the devel­op­ing coun­tries. Most of the organic fer­til­iz­ers and pes­ti­cides require­ment can be met through on-farm and local pro­duc­tion. Hence, organic farm­ing does not involve huge cap­i­tal invest­ments in buy­ing fer­til­iz­ers and pes­ti­cides. Small farm­ers, there­fore, find organic farm­ing beneficial.

Organic food are pro­duced, processed and pack­aged wihtout using chem­i­cals. Organic food is increas­ingly becom­ing pop­u­lar due to its per­ceived health ben­e­fits over con­ven­tional food. The indus­try is grow­ing rapidly since the past five years and has caught the atten­tion of farm­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and, above all, consumers.

Pop­u­lar organic food items include organic tea, organic cof­fee, organic wine, organic meat, organic beef, organic milk, organic honey, organic veg­eta­bles, organic fruits, organic rice, organic corn, organic herbs, organic essen­tial oils, organic coconut oil and organic olive oil.

The price of organic food is about 10% to even 200% higher than con­ven­tional food.However,considering the health ben­e­fits and the long term cost of med­ical care due to unhealthy and some­times poi­so­nous chem­i­cals found on our food today, many has real­ized the sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits of organic food.How else can we explain the ris­ing demand for organic food across the world today? 

Con­sumers buy their organic foods from a wide vari­ety of loca­tions. The most com­mon loca­tion of organic food pur­chases is super­mar­kets. Of those con­sumers who bought organic foods 68 per­cent pur­chased them from super­mar­kets; fol­lowed by nat­ural or health food stores at 45 percent.

Organic fruits and veg­eta­bles remains the largest mar­ket of the organic food market.They are also the most pop­u­lar com­modi­ties pur­chased by consumers.70 per­cent of the con­sumers sur­veyed who has pur­chase organic foods, also pur­chased fresh veg­eta­bles while 67 per­cent also pur­chased fresh fruits. Sales of fruits and veg­eta­bles is esti­mated at $1 Bil­lion in 2007.

Many stores buy the organic food direct from the farms. The price of a food item in an organic food store depends on whether the stores are able to buy them in bulk dis­count prices direct from the farm­ers or wholesalers.There are 1000s of organic farms around the world that has open their doors to vis­i­tors and tourists and they offer both the expe­ri­ence and infor­ma­tion on organic food and the farm­ing methods.

If you are buy­ing organic food for your­self or your family,you can find the near­est organic store in your area through the Internet.Most of these online stores also pro­vides valu­able infor­ma­tion on the organic foods they are sell­ing as well as the nutri­tional value,recipes and cook­ing methods.