Wales: Consumers overestimate cost of organic food

The Organic Centre Wales conducted a survey at The Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Builth Wells on 26 and 27 November 2012, which highlighted the common misconceptions of the cost of organic food. The OCW staff asked consumers to guess the price of a typical recipe for chicken stew when made with organic ingredients.  Over 150 people took part in the survey, with consumers on average overestimating the cost of the organic produce by 14%. In actual fact the difference was just over 2%, a fact that may surprise most shoppers. (Picture: Woodland Poultry)

Neil Pearson from OCW comments: “It is a common assumption that organic food is much more expensive than conventionally farmed produce and in these times of austerity, cost is an issue for all consumers when grocery shopping. However, this survey has highlighted that consumers may be passing organic produce by on supermarket shelves, based on past assumptions of organic food. With a basket containing regular items on consumers shopping lists such as chicken breasts, onions, and potatoes we wanted to challenge the assumption of overpriced organic food.”

OCW conducted a similar survey in May 2012 at the Royal Welsh Spring Festival and then found that consumers assumed organics were out of their price range, estimating it to be nearly 50% more expensive than its actual cost. Research conducted by the Soil Association in 2011 also highlighted these assumptions and found that in actual fact organic food is significantly less expensive than regular household brands.

Organic Centre Wales