Ireland: More buying organic food

Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, said research carried out by it and released at  the opening of National Organic Week in September 2010 showed 33 percent of Irish grocery shoppers purchased an organic product in the past week.

This was a two percent increase on figures for 2008 when this figure was 31 per cent even though the volume of organic food sales has remained steady over the year.

The research found 30 per cent of these consumers are purchasing more organic food than last year. Sixty-two per cent were buying the same amount of organic food.

The research showed fruit and vegetables accounted for the most popular purchased categories, but there had been a growth in the popularity of both dairy and meat, with 73 per cent and 69 per cent of organic buyers respectively purchasing in the past year.

Twenty per cent of non-organic buyers said they were “likely or very likely” to buy organic products in the future.

The research is part of National Organic Week, co-ordinated by Bord Bia.

Soure: SEÁN MacCONNELL, Agriculture Correspondent: More buying organic food: IrishTimes.com, September 14, 2010

More information

Links

• BordBia.ie: National Organic Food Conference 2008 - Speaker Presentations
• BordBia.ie: How Modern Irish Consumers View Organic Food: Presentation by Lorcan Bourke
• BoardBia.ie: Mossfield Organic Farm, Co Offaly wins Overall National Organic Award 2010
• IrishTimes.com: More buying organic food

Editor's note

According to data provided by Bord Bia for the global survey on organic agriculture, in 2008, the domestic turnover with organic products was 104 million Euros in Ireland and the per capita consumption 24 Euros. According to Bord Bia, the market has grown by 82 percent from 2006 to 2008.  Despite growth there were signs that the growth was slowing down in 2009 (See presentation by Lorcan Bourke; link above). 

Bord Bia

The role of Bord Bia (www.bordbia.ie), the Irish Food Board, is to act as a link between Irish Food, Drink & Horticulture suppliers and existing and potential customers throughout the world. The objective is to develop markets for Irish suppliers and to bring the taste of Irish food to more tables world-wide. Its headquarters are in Dublin.