This has certainly been a busy few months for the Soil Association. With the overall organics market in decline by 1.5 per cent in 2012, the industry body is attempting to revamp the perception of organic produce among UK consumers.
Despite this decline in sales, the Soil Association’s Finn Cottle insists that customers are still passionate about organic fruit and veg. However, she believes that the major supermarkets must start to promote their own-label lines more efficiently if the category is to return to growth.
“At the moment you will visit the produce fixture and when deciding between organic and non-organic carrots, you’ll find one line of organic carrots and potentially up to 10 lines of non-organic,” explains Cottle with a sigh. Cottle believes that organic fresh produce is not receiving enough profile and is leaving UK consumers with the perception that it’s an unnecessarily expensive alternative to regular own-label lines.
Organic fruit and vegetables represent a growing market in European countries including Germany and France, and Cottle says the UK industry can learn from foreign successes.
“We believe there is a unique opportunity for all the major retailers, and anyone who is selling organics, to make clear changes to their packaging. We see in Carrefour supermarkets in France, and a number of German retailers, the decision to label organic products as ‘non-GM’ so consumers can tell the difference.”
Cottle may have a point. A recent YouGov poll found that only 21 per cent of the nation currently supports GM technology, while more than 35 per cent oppose it, regardless of the fact that GM food is currently outlawed in the EU. One retailer which would surely support Cottle’s idea is Waitrose, with managing director Mark Price blasting environment secretary Owen Paterson’s public campaign backing GM integration within UK farming and insisting that “it is a technology looking too hard for a problem to solve.”
According to Cottle, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose currently represent around 70 per cent of the organic market and she says she would like that to change.
“Big-four supermarkets such as Asda and Morrisons both have a role to play by boosting their output. Organics should be available to everyone in every supermarket like the rest of Europe; we have to change the perception. Whether you’re a retailer more focused on premium such as Waitrose or one with a stronger value message such as Asda, organic should be a central part of the choice.”
The Soil Association is predicting the organic fresh produce market to remain flat this year, but hopes it can return to small growth in 2014-15. Cottle believes it is an exciting time for the industry and says that a trend emerging, post-Horsegate, is more and more consumers turning to organics for the traceability factor.
She concludes: “It is excellent to see the growth of the likes of Riverford and Abel & Cole as it shows there is a real interest in organic fresh produce. I believe that by making organic fruit and veg more eye-catching and easier to find in the produce fixture, the supermarkets can see a similar rise in interest.
“I was speaking recently to a UK produce company that secured a contract to sell organic beetroot to Whole Foods Market in the US. It proves that creativity will reward those in this category.”
