Sales of organic produce have soared as we have become more health and environmentally conscious over the last decade. Consumers are more concerned with eating healthily and ethical  practices than ever before and this has seen organic and fair-trade produce gain enormous popularity.

However, in the news there is growing evidence of organic food sales dropping and claims that ‘going organic’ was just a fad, the fashionable thing to do. Now that we are in ‘the credit crunch’, people are turning their backs on more expensive organic varieties in favour of returning to more budget friendly products. Many of the reports I’ve read imply that money is all we care about, that the cheaper option will always win in the end.

I don’t agree, it’s not as black and white as that. Yes, you can’t deny the facts that organic sales are dropping and we are all suffering cash-strapped times. But I don’t believe we have changed our minds and no longer care about what we are putting into our mouths. I think many of us do not have an option, maintaining a 100% organic lifestyle is a costly dream, one we would love to achieve but simply cannot afford to do so.

Saying that buying-in to an organic lifestyle is a fad or something fashionable to do, is wrong in my opinion. A dictionary defines fad as “a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc.” I don’t believe our opinions on health and ethical food issues is temporary, we are just as aware and conscious as always, wanting to do whatever we can. But how much we able to do has changed financially and we are now having to re-think our priorities.

For most of us money will always be at the top, it is the key to our survival and actually being able to put a nutritious meal on the table is more important than where the ingredients came from. But that does not mean we don’t worry about it. Now-a-days, a food shopping trip is a minefield of guilt for us, we look at everything we’re buying, justifying whether it must be organic or is the cheaper option kind of ok on the ethical front? We end up over-riding our ethical consciousness on many items, dismissing guilty feelings in order to achieve an affordable bill at the till.

So, ‘going organic’ is not about being fashionable or following a fad, it is not a temporary phenomenon. We are not any less ethically aware and any less caring, we just can’t afford it. These things go in cycles and no doubt, when the economy is on the up again, people will be able to afford more organic produce and sales will increase once more.

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