According to a report by Paul McIntyre, people with a college degree are more likely to buy organic food.

UNIVERSITY graduates might not be rich but a degree does mean a person is more likely to consume organic products, a new study says.

While more than half the organic food buyers in the study had a degree, just 27 per cent earned more than $100,000 per year, challenging a view that the upmarket crowd is fuelling much of the growth in the $400 million retail sector.

“Education is a key driver,” said James Meldrum, a former senior research analyst at ACNielsen and director at Melbourne’s Nourish Foods, which funded the report with Metier Consulting.

“Education drives the ability of a person to find out why organics is better,” he said. “Income is not as important. We’re seeing an equal proportion of organic consumers at the low end as the high end. It might be that higher income earners can buy more but it’s not why they’re buying it.”

Published Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 at 10:06 pm in Organic Lifestyle.