Here's cheers: Shake off the blues and raise your glasses to an organic year. Picture: dotw
It was in retrospect, to paraphrase Mr Dickens, the best of times. Slowly awaking to the scale of society’s environmental and health problems, more of us were taking a closer look at the source of our daily bread.
Who made it? Where was it made? What was it made with? Should I be eating it?
Organic was no longer a “hippy” term, but had become hip. Speciality stores were popping up all over the place. Hell, even the local supermarket had organic ranges. Organic had gone mainstream.
With double digit growth year on year, the organic food sector – a fiesty David in the land of Goliath – was the envy of the rest of the food market.
And then came the Crash. Or Recession. Or Downturn. Call it what you like, depending on where you live and your circumstances, but there is little doubt 2008 knocked the stuffing out of more than the world’s banks.
As one financial institution after another crumbled around us, citizens previously preoccupied with the size of their bottoms were suddenly more worried about the bottom line. Can I afford to spend the extra to eat better? What if I don’t have a job tomorrow?
By the end of 2008, many pundits, particularly those with interests vested elsewhere, were tipping the demise of the organic sector. “Ha! We told you it was just a fad, an elitist food concept designed to make the rest of us feel guilty about what we eat.”
So as we embrace the New Year, is that outlook as bleak as some would have you believe?
There is little doubt the industry has been affected. Those who regard organic as a discretionary spend, a “nice” thing to do if you’ve got the extra cash, were quick to cut back. It was certainly scary to see so many resorting to cheap fast “food”, seeing the multinational chain’s profits soar as falls were felt in healthier spheres.
But the doomsayers ignore the fact that for an increasing number of people organic is not an optional extra. The food they feed their families has become a number one priority. They would rather stint on new clothes or replacing the old telly than sacrifice the quality of their food. These people are not fairweather friends.
“The core organic consumers are sticking with their values,” the Organic Trade Association’s Barbara Haumann said recently. “They will shop around, or find other things they can cut.”
With soaring energy costs, the gap between organic and non-organic food prices has closed, as organic methods typically use far less energy in production and packaging.
There are certain organic products that will do better than others. In Australia, for example, business analysts IBISWorld tip a big year for organic dairy and chocolate, and a trend toward “greener” meat choices, such as chicken and pork, and ethical eggs.
In the US, the American National Restaurant Association has put organic produce, wine and cocktails in its top 20 trends, with locally grown produce at the top of the list.
Outside the all-important consumer, there has also been a groundswell of support for organic among some big international players.
In April 2008, the results of a six-year global investigation involving heavyweights such as the World Bank, WHO and UNESCO, concluded that the way most of food is still produced is simply not sustainable.
The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTAD), which involved some 400 scientists, government agencies and community groups, urged the world to abandon its reliance on petrochemical fuels and pesticides and embrace more sustainable farming systems. “Modern agricultural practices have exhausted land and water resources, squelched diversity and left poor people vulnerable to high food prices.”
In October, the United Nations issued a report that showed, contrary to one of the common arguments put forward by organic opponents, organic farming can feed the world. In fact, Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa argued that it offered the best solution for food stability in that troubled continent. There were already signs of success – an analysis of 114 projects in 24 African countries found that yields had more than doubled in those that used organic or near-organic methods.
So while the best of times are behind us for the moment, we need not fear the worst. Double digit growth may be a thing of the past but the industry is still growing. This is simply another hurdle in what has already been a long and tortuous path for the organic movement.
Too many of us now know the importance of securing a better way for the future. We know what we eat today affects so much more than our bottom lines (and bottoms). Most importantly, more of us care enough not to abandon this particular food fight.
Here’s to a happy, prosperous – and sustainable – 2009.
