Why do Organic Foods Cost More? By Sarmaad Amin At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Organic foods cost more due to the high demand for them right now. Many people want to feed their families food that is as healthy as possible. Finding fresh fruits and vegetables that are organically grown can be difficult as not all supermarkets carry them. Plus these stores know that people are willing to pay more for the better quality so they can mark up the prices and increase that profit margin.

Of course organically grown food does cost more due to the way in which it is planted and harvested. Those additional costs though are in the way of caring for the food and for offering methods that aren’t chemical related to protect them. Since more money is involved in making them it is reasonable that they will charge more for such products to recoup the time and money that they have invested in them.

In order to grow fresh fruits and vegetables you need farm land. The yield for organic foods is about 20% less than with conventional methods. That means the land is used to produce less food than it would otherwise. To make up for that loss of product the prices are higher so that a good profit can still be made in the end.

The cost of the processing and to get the certification from the USDA also needs to be carefully looked at. These costs are eventually passed along to the consumers as well. Even though people growing organic foods want to do the right thing for people and the environment they also have another objective. They want to make a profit from the food that they successfully grow and sell.

Yet many consumers out there wonder why organic foods don’t cost less. A ton of money is being saved so that they don’t pay for herbicides and pesticides. Keep in mind though that there is more processing by hand that must be done for organic foods and that can really add up fast to more expenses than those chemicals.

While it is understandable that we want to consume food that is good for us, that higher price is what often prevents people from doing so. There have been many surveys conducted that indicate consumers are passing over organic foods due to the fact that they can’t justify the addition 10% to 40% markup on them.

Another factor is that great deal of the crops can be lost when you are involved in organic farming. This is due to the fact that you can’t always get the food sources to grow and you can’t’ always protect them against pests and insects. The insurance for such organic foods is unbelievably high. These are just a few of the types of additional costs that are involved.

It can be an expensive process to change over a conventional farm to organic methods as well. The process can take about five years to complete. The money lost in the mean time has to be factored in somewhere along the line. So when you buy organic foods you are paying for some of these processing costs too that you didn’t realize had to be covered by the farmer before he could start to make organic foods and a profit from them.

The good news though is that the producers of organic foods continue to grow around the world. Hopefully there will be new ideas implemented that make production more affordable. Then that savings can also be passed along to the consumers. No one out there is getting rich right now from the prices that the charge for organic foods. They are making a living but not taking advantage.

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