Potato Review

30 POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 ORGANICS Will shoppers keep buying organic spuds? T HE market for organic potatoes has waxed and waned over recent years, at times leaving growers contemplating conversion with some di cult choices. ose who have already made that leap of faith may take solace from the view that even during an economic downturn there is a hard core of consumers are not about to abandon their organic principles. Zoe Avison, Retail Insight Analyst at AHDB, o ers encouraging news for the sector, based on gures supplied by market research and consultancy company Kantar. “Sales of organic fresh potatoes totalled 11,232 tonnes in the 52 weeks to 14 July 2019,” she told Potato Review. “ is is an increase of 1,086 tonnes (or 10.7%) on the year before. Non-organic fresh potatoes sold 1,305,686 David Mossman explores the consumer craze for ‘free from’ products and looks at how this is ltering down to the growers. BY DAVID MOSSMAN tonnes in the same period, up by 373 tonnes on the previous year. “ is means that organic potatoes have slightly increased their share of the total potato market, from 0.8% of volume last year, to 0.9% this year. is is despite stability in the average price of both organic and non-organic potatoes. “In value terms, organic potatoes account for 1.3% of spend on fresh potatoes and the market was worth £12.8m in the 52 weeks to July 14th, adding £1.3m compared to the previous year, up by 10.9%. We have seen growth in organic across grocery.” Zoe pointed to gures published in May this year by Soil Association Certi cation (SAC) which suggest that the organic sector, like other premium categories such as ‘free-from’, has shown a degree of resilience in the face of economic uncertainty and low consumer con dence. According to an SAC report, Organic Market 2019, total sector growth was 5.3% last year, driven in part by double-digit increases from online suppliers such as Ocado and home delivery box schemes. Increased sales through health stores have also been taking market share from supermarkets though the availability of organic versions of major brands – anything from ketchup to cheese, ice cream and spreadable butter – is already providing shoppers with a bewildering array of additional choices. It seems that meat, sh, poultry and dairy are the biggest losers while the growing popularity of plant based alternative products and vegetarian or vegan options helps to explain why shoppers are still prepared to pay more for their organic veg, including potatoes. e Soil Association does not have speci c statistics on potato production but arable adviser Paul Flynn believes the 2019 market report gives a good sense of how overall demand for organic produce has increased. He says 2018 was the seventh consecutive year of growth, adding that by 2020 the UK market is on target to be worth £2.5bn. e amount of organic certi ed land increased last year by 1.9%, the rst rise since 2008 (according