The Organic Trade Board has injected new life into the organics category this week, with its proposals to boost growth in the sector by £1 billion over the next five years (p5).

This ambitious project, if successful, would see the category grow by 50 per cent by 2015 - no mean feat for a sector that has been struggling to see the light at the end of the recessionary tunnel.

The news that Tesco is also going to refocus its attention on organics (p8), following its somewhat kneejerk reaction of withdrawing a host of lines as soon as the recession hit, must also be a welcome boost for growers and suppliers. The decision by the UK’s number-one retailer to scale down its organic stocks no doubt disrupted trade in the category, at a time when other retailers - most notably Asda - were in fact reporting a significant upturn in sales of organics.

The difficulty with organics is that the category seems to divide public opinion neatly between those who champion the cause and those who struggle to see any benefit in paying extra for an organic label. Where is the middle ground?

I believe organics will always remain a niche market, but one that has nonetheless managed to gather a core base of loyal shoppers over the years. However, when we emerge from this recession, how will those consumers who abandoned their loyalties as the purse strings tightened react? Their actions - or lack of - may become a barometer for the category’s future.