News of Organic Food Sales of 2011

With news from one of the Eurolink committee, Mr. Ben Dent, I have pleasure in giving you some news on last year's organic food sales:

Trends is organic food sales might not be exactly the same as for local food, but figures out last week (see here) show that organic sales were down 3.7% in 2011, though the fall was less at farmers’ markets at only 1%.  This would support the overall view that farmers’ markets have been protected from the economy’s worst effects, but nonetheless there is some drop off, and probably the pattern is variable between markets depending on their catchment area. 

Perhaps more worryingly, organic sales via mail order and box schemes were up 7%, suggesting that the challenge to farmers’ markets (and farm shops) from home delivery may be strengthening.

The article that Mr. Dent links to in his first paragraph is an article from the Farmer's Weekly from the 9th of march 2012 entitled, "Organic sector must change to stem falling sales".

Do any readers of this blog agree with this and what experiences have they had within their own sectors, feel free to comment below.