The Crop Protection Association in the UK (UKCPA) has claimed that recent figures released by the Soil Association show that organic food is sliding down the list of priorities for consumers.
A Soil Association report showed that organic sales growth stood at just 1.7 per cent in value terms through 2008, with sales volumes actually falling during the year, compared with 26 per cent growth every year since 1993.
'The organic brand is no longer a major sales driver in the UK grocery sector,' said Dominic Dyer, CEO of the UKCPA. 'Consumers are increasingly questioning the health and environmental benefits of organic food and are no longer willing to pay a premium price to go organic.'
UK results have led the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) to question whether recent European Commission (EC) promotional activities for organic produce are out of touch with consumers' needs in the current economic climate.
'We strongly support products branded organic as a market choice for consumers,' said ECPA director general Friedhelm Schmider. 'What concerns us is that European legislation is increasingly shifting away from rational, science-led decision making towards slanted interpretations of consumer preference that are lagging behind economic, human need and production realities.
'EU policies reveal a systematic bias towards organic agriculture, even though it is, patently, a luxury market niche, not a means of food production,' he noted. 'This predisposition is illustrated by official funding on projects to promote organic as well as regulatory decisions.'
Mr Schmider added that the EC needed to form a 'reality-based policy' to prioritise productivity if Europe is to avoid a crisis in the near future.
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