CNN:

Urvashi Rangan, one of the report’s authors, recommends buying organic versions of those items and the following fruits and vegetables: apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, spinach and strawberries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, and red raspberries.

Not worth it [...] include asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas.

Of course, just because pesticide residue didn’t show up in tests doesn’t mean the vegetables weren’t sprayed. And many people buy organic products simply to help keep toxins out of the environment.

Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket, has made a landmark purchase of renewable energy credits from wind farms to offset 100% of the electricity used in all of its stores, facilities, bake houses, distribution centers, regional offices and national headquarters in the United States and Canada. This is the largest wind energy credit purchase in the history of the United States and Canada and makes Whole Foods Market the only Fortune 500 Company purchasing wind energy credits to offset 100% of its electricity use.

As of December 9, 2005, Whole Foods Market is purchasing more than 458,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy credits from wind farms. This purchase will avoid more than 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide pollution this year. To have the same environmental impact, more than 60,000 cars would have to be taken off the road or more than 90,000 acres of trees would have to be planted.

I’ve tried the Sun and Earth All Purpose Cleaner this weekend to clean my house and I love it. It leaves a clean orange scent afterward, cleans as well as the leading brand, and most important of all it helps me have a peace of mind because I have kids in the house and less toxic items I keep the better.

I would recommend using non-toxic cleaners to anyone. Its better for you health and the environment.

Green & Red Peppers

Boston Globe:

“As people’s wealth increases, so does their standard of living, and people with money become more concerned about their mortality and start paying attention to their health,” said 50-year-old Huang, who has eaten organic food all his life.

“People with little money don’t care about such things.”

More recently, eating healthy has become increasingly important due to worries of avian flu, which has killed more than 70 people across Asia since 2003, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people in 2003.

In South Korea, which has more than double Taiwan’s population, the market is much bigger. The Korea Rural Economic Institute estimated the country’s organic foods market at $578 million this year, up 22 percent from $474 million in 2004.

Image by Farl

Chinese Chestnut

BBC News:

Although affluent shoppers bought roughly the same amount of produce last year, Mintel said sales were rising among lower-income consumers.

Fruit and vegetables had sales of £442m this year, making up 37% of the total market.

But the biggest rise is in meat and poultry sales - up nearly 150% between 2000 and 2005. An estimated 26% of consumers had bought organic meat in the last 12 months, up from 19% in 2001.

Another proof that anything related to organic will be soaring in the coming years.

Image by Patz

Updated 6/10/08: Updated the link

AMonline:

The organic industry is set to enjoy good growth over the next twenty years, according to a new study by the nation’s Organic Trade Association (OTA), which forecasts that by 2025 organic products will be considered “commonplace.”

The findings, published last week, are based on predictions by industry research organizations, including the Natural Marketing Institute, Nutrition Business Journal and Packaged facts, as well as leading organic producers Organic Valley , Smucker Quality Beverages and Stonyfield Farm.

Rocky Mountain News

The Austin, Texas-based organic and natural foods retail powerhouse will open its biggest store to date in Colorado on Wednesday, this time seducing food lovers with 55,000 square feet of retail space at the Belmar complex on Wadsworth Boulevard.

“Every department (in the store) is bigger than the others in Colorado,” said Scott Simons, marketing manager for the Southwest region and self-described “freak foodie person.”

The proliferation of Whole Foods Markets in Colorado reflects the company’s nationwide expansion - 400 stores in all are expected to be open by 2010. But this store on the outskirts of Denver - the seventh in the state - tops even the huge 52,000-square-foot outlet that opened on East Hampden Avenue in September.

Clarion-Ledger:

Father and son, the Hafners are in the process of converting their Guthrie County, Iowa, crop land and pasture ground to organic production. They also have converted their 200-head beef cow-calf herd to organic grass-fed production.

Exploding consumer demand for organic food is outstripping supplies of organic grain, dairy products and other commodities.
Growing demand, along with environmental concerns, also is driving producers like the Hafners to go organic.

Annual retail sales of organic food products now total about $13 billion in the United States, said Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association in Greenfield, Mass.

Organic fruits and vegetables are the biggest-selling products, she said, but organic meat, dairy and poultry products are among the fastest-growing in popularity.

Since the mid-1990s, when major retailers began to sell organic fluid milk, demand for it has skyrocketed. “Now, it’s available everywhere,” DiMatteo said.

For the extra effort, farmers receive premium prices. Organic soybeans, for instance, can bring $12 to $18 per bushel, more than two to three times as much as today’s average Iowa cash market price for conventional soybeans. Organically certified beef cattle can bring several dollars more per hundredweight than conventionally raised cattle.

How could that have happened in the time when “organic style” living is so popular. More and more people are making a conscious effort to eat more organic foods. All the organic foods focus markets like Wholefoods and Trader Joe’s are doing so well. You would people would be reading more organic publications to keep up with the “style”.

Food Navigator

Demand for organic foods has increased by almost 17 percent over the past year, according to a new report that reveals how Americans are increasingly turning to organic alternatives in an effort to improve their diet.

The latest survey commissioned by leading organic supermarket Whole Foods Market reveals that nearly two thirds of the nation’s consumers have opted for organic goods in 2005, compared to just over half in both 2003 and 2004.

As with their European counterparts, American consumers opt for organic fruit and vegetables above any other food category, with these products purchased by 73 percent of consumers.

Non-dairy beverages and bread and baked goods come in as the next most popular categories, each purchased by 32 percent of shoppers. Dairy products come in at 25 percent, while 22 percent of consumers opt for organic meat, snack foods and packaged goods such as soup or pasta.