Gobble Gobble

One of our favorite websites on green issues and sustainable living, Grist�s environmental living blog is giving thanks to those creative folks who love to play with their food. In the spirit of holiday gratitude, click here to see Grist�s slide show of meat-free masterpieces shaped like turkeys!

Once you�ve enjoyed the masterpiece slide show, click over to this and get a gander of turkeys enjoying the day. Gobble, gobble. People�s wants you each to know that we are thankful for YOU!

organic and the credit crunch part 3: when organic tries harder, the consumer notices

In the face of a real economic downturn and a barrage of simplistic media pronouncements, you could be forgiven for thinking that organic farming is facing death by a thousand daggers.

The objective fact is there � the downturn. The simplistic notion is everywhere � in a downturn, people will stop thinking about how their food is produced. Food will become a basic, fairly meaningless thing again.

In reality, as I�ve suggested over the last two weeks, things are a little more complex. For example, some direct sellers are not only surviving but thriving.

The multiples have less faith in organic, but then, it is not their job to have faith in anything in particular, other than the profit motive.

A farmer who supplies the Christmas market for a particular high end multiple retailer told me that they are taking 25% less of that product from him recently. My local Tesco fruit and veg manager suggested to me that organic sales there are down too.

However, as we saw last week, many direct retailers are experiencing something altogether different.

Is it because they offer something altogether different too? People are perennially surprised to find that organic meat is so affordable at farmers� markets. Declan McCarthy sells organic meat at a range of farmers� markets across the north west at the following prices:

Mince and sausages both 12e per kilo; chicken 1.8-2.5 kg at 16e per bird; roast beef and lamb cutlets both 15e per kilo.

Similar prices are found wherever organic meat is found at farmers� markets. Organic chickens tend to be 5e cheaper than in the supermarkets.

Bulk direct sellers of organic meat, such as Drumeen farm, offer better prices again.

But direct sellers offer more than price. They offer good value, and value is about price and quality. And quality can be complex.

Talk Stella Coffey and Richard Auler, who sell, amongst other things, eggs at farmers� markets in Tipperary.

Seeing stalled organic egg sales last February, they sourced a great egg poacher, brought it to the market, brought the poached eggs to the market for people to sample, and offered a free egg poacher with every 3 boxes of eggs. Necessity bred innovation, sales went up again.

Like their customer service, their eggs are quality: hens fed sprouted grains, hens kept in natural flock sizes.

While taste is an essential part of the whole thing, it is also important to find ways to inform the customer. Farmers� markets are one way to do this.

More generally, quality is about aiming for higher markets � higher than pizza topping and powdered milk, higher than prison food.

We have, after all, the best grass growing conditions in Europe.

In the race towards the LIDLisation of organic, organic may have to add more meanings into its repertoire to survive.

When I worked in ecotourism, we developed a set of mandatory and optional criteria for tourism product providers.

Crucially, businesses needed to draw from both pools to achieve accreditation. For accommodation providers, mandatory was waste, water and energy. Optional included things like providing local or organic food or providing bicycles.

Already, the Soil Association in the UK are trying to adapt to ever changing times. They are developing a self-assessed organic-like standard for small producers. They have introduced fair trade into air freighted organic. They are looking at organic conservation grade with lower stocking rates.

In tight economic times, farmers and food businesses with a lot of good stories will fare far better than those with just one. Organic beef farmers whose animals are 100% grass fed, or who stock specific breeds have stories to tell. Stall holders with decent, up-to-date seasonal recipes each week do too.

Farmers� markets that provide a drop off service for regulars who couldn�t make it into the market that day have a great story.

Imagine a farmers� market where a different stallholder each week took their turn to do the following: on their way home, text regulars who didn�t make it in to the market that day. Tell them about the still available and affordable bounty in the van.

Necessity also breeds ingenuity. As credit crunches and recession bites, occasionally those crunchy bites will be tasty too.

Controlling Our Food - Documentary

Check out the documentary, Controlling Our Food, by clicking here.

Controlling Our Food provides a comprehensive overview (the film is almost 2 hours long) of Monsanto's early days as the chemical company that developed Agent Orange. It covers the dangers of Roundup herbicide, the regulatory revolving door between Monsanto and government regulators, the evolution of genetically engineered crops, the impacts on farmers internationally, and much more.

Save the Ocean Beach Library Rally

Save the Ocean Beach Library Rally

On Saturday, November 15, 2008 People�s Co-op closed the market for one hour from noon to 1 p.m. to support a rally protesting San Diego City Mayor, Jerry Sander�s plan to close 9 city libraries. Among the 9 chosen, is the Ocean Beach Branch Library, San Diego�s first and oldest city library.

The rally was well attended, but there is still much to do in order to prevent the closure. For more information you can click here and go directly to the O.B. Rag�s blog site where there are up to the minute news and action alerts; you can also get information on how to contact the mayor and your city council members to let them know that you are against the library closures. Together we can and do, make the difference!

organic and the credit crunch: part 2

Before this one starts, if you get a chance on thursday, have a look at ear to the ground . Its on at 7pm. I'll be on it, as part of a feature on the Organics with Altitude initiative. (it is also repeated on sunday mornings)

For more on organics with altitude, click here

And now, more on organics and the economy:

The organic market in Ireland is now worth 117 million Euros. That�s according to the latest TNS figures, which run from mid June for 12 weeks up to the 5^th October.

12 weeks ago, the market was recorded as being at 104 million by TNS. This 117 million Euro figure is a total growth of almost 40% relative to last year�s sales.

Importantly, this figure includes the credit crunch months of August and in particular September, both of which recorded much the same growth as the mid June and July.

Growth was just over 10% from June to 5^th October, and 7% of this occurred in August and September.

To further understand emergent trends in the market, I�ve also spoken to 16 people involved in the business over the past two weeks, to better gauge what�s happening in the market.

These include 8 farmers, all of whom sell direct to consumers; two organic food businesses; one meat producer group representative; two retailers who stock significant amounts of Irish produced organic produce; one butcher who sell organic meat and finally two distributors/wholesalers.

Some of the above do more than one food or farming activity, as often is the case with organic businesses. However, they are only listed once above. It is worth noting that this is not a full and comprehensive representative sample of all stakeholders.

It seems that, as the TNS figures suggest and despite general media hype, the organic market is still strong.

The majority have reported either growth or consolidation, while two suggested that their figures were back a small amount compared to this time last year. None felt that organic food sales were suffering as much as other areas in the economy.

To some extent, consumers are changing their shopping�s �who, what, where and how much.

Individuals are buying bigger, catering like portions. Retailers have noted a specific turn towards 25kg bags of flour, as well as catering portions of other cooking and baking ingredients, such as nuts and dried fruits.

There are also inevitable seasonal changes, such as a turn towards roasts for the oven.

However the �who, what� and �where� part of the above equation is very interesting. To some extent, sales have not been hit too hard, because some specific people are behaving differently.

While the discounters are doing well, it is also the case that some direct sellers are suggesting that the kinds of people who normally eat out a couple of times per week are now cooking more at home. These consumers are buying high end produce from them, such as organic sirloin and striplion steaks.

It may also be the case that consumers have put off the bigger luxury spends, such as a holiday or a car upgrade, but are to some extent compensating with luxury foods.

Because reports from the UK pointed out a drop in the sales of organic eggs, I was especially interested in this.

However, the direct selling egg producer I spoke to claimed to still sell out, and not to notice any decline in turnover.

I specifically was interested in finding out whether people were turning from exotics to staples and from sweets to savoury.

This does not seem to be the case to a significant extent. It may be that some consumers have stopped with exotics, but others have taken up the slack.

While some organic fresh fruit and vegetable stalls have reported a softening in the sales of what could be classed as exotic or higher end fruits and vegetables, this is not at all clear and definitive.

One wholesaler suggested that, to the organic consumer, certain products are less exotic anyway, and that there is more price competition amongst producers because of this.

So all types of salad leaves, peppers, pumpkins and sweet potato sales were up for the sample week he showed me, which was the 40^th week of the year (mid October). At the same time, apples, carrots and potato sales were down. It is noteworthy that these latter three were all Irish produced, whereas the �exotics� were both Irish and imported.

All told, it seems to be the case that the Irish organic market remains robust.

It's a Video!

organic and the credit crunch: part 1

I'm currently doing a three parter on the economy and organic in the examiner. For the bang up to date stuff on this ever changing dynamic, you'll have to get it in the examiner each thursday! (See today's examiner for the most recent figures on the organic market)

My next posting will focus on producers and others in the organic agri-food system. Here's a version of what was there last week:

The current economic situation, which is likely to hold for the foreseeable future, is a new economic climate for organic food producers and consumers alike.

Undoubtedly, consumers are a lot more careful about what they buy now. Consumers are now more likely to try a bit harder to get better value.

Recent research by Bord Bia pointed to growth all through 2008, with slower though still real growth more recently.

�Our research in other areas would suggest that consumers are moving back to standard brands, and away from premium brands.� According to Lorcan Bourke of Bord Bia.

�Having said that, I wouldn�t loose the overall impression of growth. Some organic products has made it into the mainstream shopping basket as part of the weekly shop�

Lorcan points to recent research, which suggests some positive trends:

�In terms of the total potential market, 61% are now open to organic food�.

The research suggests that there are three broad categories within this 61%.

There is a total adult grocery shopping population of 2 million people.

Within this, believers, or a hard core of committed consumers, account for 17% of the market. This is 350,000 people.

Those who seek organic for a specific reason (�health managers and status seekers are the categories used in this research) are 28% or 550,000 people.

While the last group, defined as �aspirational improvers� in this research are 7% or 140,000. This group is made up of people who would like to buy more organic but think they can�t afford it. Often, this is young people with large families on a tight budget.

Another 9%, or 170,000, who don�t yet purchase organic, are considered �evolving considers�.

Lorcan points to the fact that the incidence of buying organic in the last 6 months, (i.e. up to end of August 2008) was 52%. In 2003, that was just 41%. Also, 45% of all shoppers purchased something organic in last month � the equivalent figure in 2003 was just 20%.

UK research also paints a positive picture in the early part of 2008, but suggests significant tailing off more recently.

UK organic fresh fruit and vegetables box schemes are holding steady, but involve more imports as people grow a slightly greater proportion of their own food and use the box scheme for, ironically, more exotic imports.

The organic egg market seems to have been particularly hit in the UK. Many UK consumers have changed over to free range for at least the present. The production differences and thus eventual mark up is quite significant in organic as compared to either conventional or free range eggs.

However, experts in the UK suggest that rising farmer costs, inter supermarket competition and a poor summer are all blamed for contributing to a confused climate for shopping, where all higher end produce is in limbo at present.

In the current economic climate, consumers may start to buy less convenience and value added foods, and may eat out less. Also back garden growing, cooking at home more from scratch with primary products, more affordable cuts, portions and brands are all re-emerging.

This is not necessarily all bad news for organic producers, though it is a different dynamic.

Consumer moves from one retailer to another is also noteworthy. One effect is that LIDI now carry many organic lines. However, with the exception of Irish organic minced beef and milk from northern Irish organic farmers, many of the organic products in the German discounter are imported.

Harvest time comes around yet LIDI still stock an array of imported organic fresh fruits and vegetables, as though season was irrelevant.

(I'll post more about the egg thing in Ireland next posting!)

Halloween

Healthy Halloween Carnival 2008