Reading the findings of the volunteer army employed by the Soil Association to ascertain what has been happening to organics on the supermarket shelves certainly makes encouraging reading, even if the reasons for market growth are far from clear-cut.

What is extraordinary is that, despite little paid-for promotional activity, the awareness of organics, fuelled by the media and cookery writers in particular, has continued to spiral upwards, and customers, even in the current bargain-conscious retail environment, accept that there has to be a price differential.

Meanwhile, the UK industry, to its credit, has come a long way from the “beards and sandals” image that dogged it in the initial stages.

Perhaps the only downside has been that the small environmental, and emotionally driven growers who started the whole concept rolling have been overtaken by the big battalions.

I remember a trip to East Anglia years ago when one of the land barons in the Golden Triangle announced that he was going to give organics a try.

The acreage of vegetables he envisaged being set aside, which was made possible by several highly profitable potato seasons, at that time represented virtually half the total available acreage under production.

Subsequently, as the SA’s report shows, organics have won, and held onto, a special place in store - although it seems retailers are still trying to decide whether the range best benefits from being presented in a specialist section or does better when it is placed individually alongside conventionally grown crops.

The argument is that the latter strategy theoretically provides the opportunity to appeal to more customers who have yet to be convinced it is worth paying a premium.

It is obviously good news, according to the research, that UK potato, apple, carrot and onion growers have won a greater seasonal share of sales in a market which is still expanding, although the sector remains very much the territory of Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury.

In other words some of the big players - and it does not take too much effort to work out their names - are not making the kind of impact which is commensurate with their size.

So does this mean that the reality is that organics are still, if not exactly the luxury end of the market, the domain of what market researchers categorise as A and B consumers, those who have a deeper purse and possibly care more about making their choice?

If this is the case there must come a point where price will begin to play a more significant part in keeping consumption on the move and competition for share become more intense.

What the current situation also reflects is that however worthy assured produce schemes and their equivalents from around the world may be, they have yet to reach the point where, even by using less chemicals and pesticides, they provide a viable alternative.

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