If you’re still not convinced of the consumer demand for organic food, talk to Costco. The mega members-only warehouse retailer reports that organics is one of their fastest growing areas, exceeding $4 billion in annual sales, according to the Huffington Post. And with all of the demand, they’re having a hard time keeping up.
“We cannot get enough organics to stay in business day in and day out,” CEO Craig Jelinek told investors at an annual shareholder meeting.
His solution: help organic farmers get started farming.
According to The Seattle Times, this program is in its beginning stages, with just one farmer partner the retailer helped to purchase a 1,200-acre organic farm and equipment in Baja California. However, Costco is looking to expand the farmer-support program in order to keep their organic supplies rolling in. The overall organics industry has seen a huge surge in demand over the past 10 years, and now, organics account for over 4 percent of total food sales nationwide, the USDA says.
So what does this mean for you? Unless you’re one of the “big boys” on the organic-farming scene, probably not much—and this has raised some skeptics’ hackles. However, if you’ve been thinking of moving your market farm toward organics, it sounds like you may be able to draw some customers.
