Organic Consumers are Happy with their Choice

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Jeanne - Simme Valley

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(Article in Drovers Journal May 23, 2018)
Despite the presence of pesticides in equal amounts, organic consumers won't switch.

A recent study found pesticide levels in organically grown foods is equal to that of conventionally grown foods. That's right, consumers are paying more for organic foods to avoid pesticides but it's not helping. Think they'll switch to conventionally grown foods?

Not likely, according to NPD's National Eating Trends®, which continually tracks all aspects of how U.S. consumers eat. Organic consumers hold a strong belief in their nutritional knowledge and healthy lifestyle and are not likely to be swayed by the research.

NPD cited a recently released report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that found pesticide levels in organically grown foods are equal to those in conventionally grown foods. NPD said consumers have opportunities to consume organic foods and beverages 9.7% of the time, up from 7.5% just three years ago. The group also said about 10% of the U.S. population consumes all organic foods over a seven-day period. Another 19% consume a combination of all-natural and organic foods, with 20% consuming only all-natural foods, the study said.

The NPD group's study also identified organic-only consumers as most likely to be female, span the ages between 35 to 44 and 55 to 64, live on the West Coast and have a household income of more than $75,000 per year. The study found 51% of the population are non-users of organic and all natural foods.

"Organic consumers will hold steadfast to their beliefs and continue to seek organic foods despite negative reporting, and all-natural consumers will continue to place convenience over taste first," said Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst at NPD.
 
Seems it's more about feeling good about themselves than it is about the actual results.
It do bring up the question tho, since so many of them are so much in favor of accurate labeling....


"THIS FOOD PRODUCT CONTAINS THE SAME QUANTITY OF PESTICIDES AS ALL OTHER FOOD PRODUCTS!!!"
 
While it is laughable, I've seen the decline of organic standards for 3 decades.. they'll always cater to the biggest "donor", so the standards drop accordingly
 
people ask about my eggs I've been totally honest. I do not raise the scratch the chickens eat. We buy chicken feed. I have no idea what is in the chicken feed or how the scratch was grown. The chickens are turned out every evening and completely free range 3 or 4 days a week. Some even peck Styrofoam off of my bow target - I tell everyone this

I sell out of eggs every week.
 
I have about the same opinion on organic labeling as CAB. Great marketing ploy for a product that could be purchased cheaper and be just as good or better under a different label.
 
Interesting article. I suspected the same but nice to see it documented. Its all about feelings. A couple years ago I spent a day in a meeting where someone from the Government Accountability Office explained to us how we could make more money by "selling this feeling". Many of the attendees were enthralled with these new prospects but I'm more of a black and white sort of guy who just felt this was a scam - though legal - and viewed this as eight hours of my life wasted that I'd never get back. But in reflection, maybe there is some validity to all this nonsense since who would you rather cheat, a hard working family or some fool with more money than sense?
 
Jogeephus":3cj1ykfk said:
Its all about feelings.

Exactly. They want to explain that their food is somehow better. My dang "free range" chickens are eating my Styrofoam arrow target but my yolks "are more orange than store bought eggs" and therefor my eggs are more healthy. I just listen to them ramble and sell them the eggs. I eat the same eggs they do and my health isn't improving any.
 
This is the problem with all this "feel good" advertising. They make claims that have absolutely no scientific proof, and the general consumer WANTS to believe them. They are looking for a magic bullet for better health. Makes me sick!
 
Silver":35ela69m said:
I have about the same opinion on organic labeling as CAB. Great marketing ploy for a product that could be purchased cheaper and be just as good or better under a different label.
But just like CAB you'd have to spend multi millions marketing it to get any real sales volume.
 
We sell some produce and at a farmers market. There is a small organic farm that sells there, they have good looking produce, and seem to have dedicated customers. Soon after we started selling there ( non organic ) we had a strange encounter with an older couple. They came by and saw that we had eggs, so the man started asking questions like were they free range, were they fed non gmo feed? I told him that they were not in cages, but in an enclosure where they could go either outside or in the coop. Here free range chickens wouldn't last long, it's for their protection that we keep them in a fenced in area. I told him we bought our layer feed at Southern States, and did not think it was non gmo, but that it had to meet standards like any other feed. My wife took out a carton of the eggs to show him, they looked like any other
eggs to us, he handed them back and walked on.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":2462qre9 said:
Ky hills - brainwashed!!!
I REFUSE to buy anything labeled Organic or GMO free or "Natural" - just a gimmick to steal my money.

That's how I feel about it too, in fact I sometimes think the "conventionally produced" food is safer than the organic stuff. It is ridiculous what some folks have been lead to believe.
 
A bit like herbal remedies, I hear people say they use them because they can't do any harm because they are natural. Some of the alkaloids contained in plants are extremely poisonous especially to the liver.

Ken
 

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