The organics industry must be scratching its head wondering where on earth it went wrong in the last 12 months.

After a prolonged period of double-digit growth and showers of praise from a core group of foodie journalists, the sector suddenly found itself battling not only the reined-in spending habits of middle-class consumers, but also some pretty negative media attention.

There is no doubt that the category is still struggling against an image problem that has seen it take drastic steps in the last 12 months to reassess its appeal and attempt to pare down its fairly broad message into a tighter concept for consumers to comprehend.

Alongside shoppers cutting back, the difficulties encountered by the sector have also been exacerbated by the major multiples, some of which were quicker than Usain Bolt on a rocket launcher to delist certain organic ranges as soon as the word “recession” hit the headlines.

But there are better times ahead, according to the Soil Association, and it is interesting that fresh produce should be spearheading the category’s improvement in sales. For the many fruit and vegetable companies that over the last few years have invested significantly in their organic business on the back of such robust growth, the small signs of recovery appearing on the horizon can’t arrive too soon.

However, recovery is a pretty strong word and one that tends to get bandied around a lot post-recession. Let’s hope it’s not too strong a word for the organics industry.