Organic alternatives catching on

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jan 12, 2007 by Acton, Ryann

SYRACUSE - Organic products arc popping up everywhere from the local fruit stand to supermarket shelves. Organic alternatives are available for almost every conventional food product - fruits, vegetables, cereal, coffee, milk, meat, and even pet food.

U.S. sales of organic food grew 16.2 percent to $13.8 billion in 2005, according to the Organic Trade Association's 2006 Manufacturer Survey. The Organic Trade Association is a Greenfield, Maine-based trade group with nearly 1,500 members that promotes the organic industry.

To be sure, organic food still has a long way to go to rival non-organic food for market share. Organic crops account for less than 1 percent of the total farmland in New York State, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 2002 Census of Agriculture. The USDA conducts its Census of Agriculture every five years.

Organic products take more time to produce, process, and handle to maintain USDA standards outlined in the federal Organic Foods Protection Act of 1990. Therefore, organic food products typically cost more than non-organic food products.

Despite generally higher prices, consumers in Central New York are buying organic products. Many consumers are willing to pay more for products that do not contain pesticides or herbicides. Some argue that eating foods that are free from such chemicals is healthier.

The organic section is one of the fastest growing departments at Wegmans stores, says Steven Thiergart, produce coordinator of the Wegmans Syracuse division. The Rochester-based supermarket chain's sales of organic produce have increased 50 percent per year for the last five years, Thiergart says.

Organic-produce sales account for 10 percent of the DeWitt Wegmans store's produce sales, he says. The DeWitt Wegmans, 6789 E. Genesee St., sells the most organic products of all of the supermarket's 71 locations in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, Thiergart says. Organic produce is popular with the store's affluent, educated clientele, which includes families from the Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt areas, as well as Syracuse University students.

Supermarkets are a popular place to purchase organic foods because consumers want to buy them where they already shop, says Dr. David Conner, a research specialist at the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University (MSU). Conner earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University in Ithaca in 2002 and researched organic-food products and consumers under the tutelage of Dr. Ralph Christy. Conner also served as an economic researcher for the Northeast Organic Network, a consortium to enhance production and consumption of locally grown, organic food in the Northeast.

Growing organic

Organic products differ from conventional products in the way that they are produced, processed, and handled.

Organic designates an item that is produced using the guidelines of the Organic Foods Protection Act. Some of the guidelines include: banning the use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides on crops; growing produce on land that has been free of chemicals for at least three years; prohibiting genetically modified crops; and planting with organic seeds.

Darren Maum, sole owner of Salvere Farm, has to incorporate other time-intensive methods besides pesticides and herbicides to protect crops on his two-acre, organic farm in the town of Marcellus. Maum's love of farming and the increasing demand for organic produce pushed him to start Salvere Farm in 2005. Maum grows 80 different types of organic crops including herbs, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, squash, and raspberries.

Instead of using pesticides and herbicides to fight off pesky bugs and weeds, Maum either weeds by hand or uses a blow torch to bum the weeds. Growing organically creates about 25 percent more work, he estimates. Salvere Farm employs Maum and one part-time worker during the season, which runs from March to November.

"If I wasn't organic, I wouldn't need any extra help at my scale," Maum explains.

Growing organically also doubles the farm's seed cost, he says. Salvere Farm generated annual revenue of $10,000 in 2006, Maum says. In addition to farming, Maum works as a soccer referee in Marcellus and cares for his child.

Handling organic

Organic fruits and vegetables must be handled separately from non-organic fruits and vegetables to prevent contamination. Wegmans employees are trained to wash, warehouse, display, and bag organic produce separately from conventional produce, says Thiergart. He estimates that Wegmans employees spend about 20 percent more time handling organic products than non-organic food to ensure that all requirements are followed.

Wegmans has been selling organic food for 17 years, Thiergart says. Wegmans was one of the first supermarket chains in the United States to begin offering organic food, Conner the researcher says.

The supermarket's produce sections first began carrying organic carrots, lettuce, potatoes, and apples, he says. Demand from consumers and competition from other supermarket chains such as Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market drove Wegmans to increase its organic product line, Thiergart says. While Whole Foods is not located in the Central New York area, Wegmans competes with the naturalfood supermarket in New Jersey and Virginia.