There is no doubt organic, organic food is expensive, but considering the health and environmental benefits that we can afford, not to eat it? David Goding examined

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Consumers are tested food like never before. It is no longer a steak just a steak or rice just rice. It depends where it comes from, made the carbon footprint in the process is whether organic or free-range, free-trade or ethically comes. Such decisions are made – some unconscious but many deliberately – on a daily basis.

There are a variety of reasons for our concern. The way we now scrutinize food by health concerns (avoiding additives and genetically modified ingredients) can be driven to, the environment (minimizing our impact on the planet), or they may be part of a client or dietary plan, as vegetarianism.

The increased demand for organic products has inevitably brought about an increase in their availability, but, it seems, does not fall much in price. Organic products are still significantly more expensive than their non-organic counterparts, and free-range for many people still considered too expensive.

Trolley truths

Business information analysts IBISWorld took the tram for a typical shopping trip – spiking initially with conventional products, then with organic products, and found an amazing difference.

Consisting of 38 common products including fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy products, bread and cereals, spreads, beverages and cleaning agents, the conventional trolley costs $ 147.82. The 38 equivalent products in the organic car, but costs $ 246.54 – a premium of nearly $ 100, or 66.8 percent.

Within this comparison is still organic 'bargain' and areas where prices have fallen lately.

The conundrum is that to have cheaper organic products, we have more people they need to buy, but to get more people to buy, we need to lower prices.

Ironically, to reduce prices, consumers will probably need to be less concerned about the financial bottom line and more on a stand. After all, it's not all about price.

Why go organic?

Despite the higher cost, there are certainly good reasons to go organic.

May conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are often treated with a wide range of plant protection products subject to agricultural practices, many people would rather avoid, and can take a lot of time, energy and transport always spend on the supermarket shelf.

However, it is also extremely practical, inexpensive and available year-round.

For the vast majority of human history, we have been eating organic food – that is, we ate food grown without the use of chemicals, fertilizers, hormones, preservatives, antibiotics or genetic modification.

In that all 20th Century changed when factories and mass production industries changed the way we ate.

People who believe organic diet to follow, that their food is most likely to avoid health, wellness and disease. In addition, any meat or animal products they consume, cruelty, produced, the organic eaters feel knowing their food is produced ethically safe.

Some organic advocates claim their food is higher nutrient content and taste better, but still there is no evidence to prove it.

Green your fruit and vegie

After IBISWorld shopping trolley comparison a typical selection of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables cost about 60 percent less than their organic counterparts.

Relative bargain in the form of organic bananas (only 33.4 percent), coal (one percent), and pumpkin, which was actually 33.4 percent cheaper than the conventionally grown pumpkin found.

On the other hand, organic Granny Smith apples will cost a whopping 115 percent more than the conventional option brown onions and oranges and twice the price.

Understand course prices vary, especially in the organic food industry. A good idea is to buy seasonal and local as possible.

"The best way to ensure that the product you buy is grown locally to farmers' markets or in an organic vegetable shop, the production of your state receives Shop" says author of Ethical Eating Angela Crocombe.

Crocombe says if it is not possible to source an organic alternative, it is always better to buy Australian tend instead of a foreign product Australian foods to lower pesticide residues.

Then there are the cheapest option of all: growing their own. With the preparation, a good vegie patch receive an extraordinary amount of products for nearly nothing.

Meet your meat choices

How many organic products claim many people that organic red meat and chicken taste better.

Organic, free-range chicken breast cost an astounding 146.2 percent more than traditional imprisoned, chicken, one of the biggest movers in the Australian diet in the past 20 years.

By IBISWorld, there is an even larger price differences when it comes to sausage, another big seller, with the organic choice came at 172.5 per cent higher than their conventional counterparts.

Organic beef, perhaps because it is more widely available, provides far greater value for money at just over 30 percent more than the conventional option.

Organic eggs from free-range in price have been well over the last 15 years, took a quarter of the Australian egg market, but still about two dollars cost more per dozen eggs laid by caged hens as. Drought continues to affect free-range chicken and eggs.

One way to cut costs – and have a positive impact on the environment – is to eat less meat.

Rich countries such as Australia consumes an amazing amount of meat. In fact, the average Australian now eats five times as much meat as in 1950.

"By eating less meat, should you can afford more expensive to buy more ethical meat, if you choose, you have to buy," says Crocombe.

Other organic options

Dairy products offer surprisingly affordable organic options, with low-fat milk only slightly more expensive than conventional milk and cheese costs 39 percent more, according to IBISWorld research.

Other deals organic products are olive oil (5.6 percent), chocolate (27.5 percent), orange juice (32.5 percent), and oatmeal (8.7 percent).

Fish, by nature, is an organic, healthy choice and can also be an economical option. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to buy ethically, with overfishing around the globe widely and much of our canned fish from overseas.

"There are safe, environmentally friendly seafood are ways, though only a small portion of what is currently available to make," says Crocombe.

It recommends avoiding over-fished species such as shark, orange roughy and bluefin tuna and instead looking for fish that was caught in Australian waters, particularly wild, bream, flathead, King George whiting and Australian salmon, all of which are categorized by the Australian Marine Conservation Society as the most sustainable in the current market.

Also look for tinned fish – always cheap and healthy alternative – which was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

The organic food future

The ballooning world population is growing at seven billion people, the food supply has put tremendous pressure, especially in the West.

Crocombe points out, for example, that people eat in the developed countries to 224g of meat per day, compared with just 31g in Africa. Rising prosperity in China they eat twice as much meat as they were 10 years ago.

The demand for such large quantities of food is the major challenge for the organic food industry, the. Essentially competing against a player whose biggest asset is the mass production, probably at the expense of quality

The organic industry, but is certainly grow and prices fall inevitably for many organic products.

"The demand for organic is of between 20 percent and 45 percent growth each year, with organic food cost of sales accounting for approximately one percent of total food sales in this country," said IBISWorld general manager Robert Bryant.

"We are a long way behind the UK and the U.S., where a 2.5 percent organic and 2.8 percent share of the total food trade."

Robert says that, these statistics are increasingly spread and easily order we can expect that the organic sector to grow in Australia, driven by rising health awareness, concern for the environment, awareness of organic and the fact Bio products.

"We expect a downward trend in the price premiums – with increasing economies of scale in organic production and rising supermarket participation – will also contribute to the demand," he says.