The Development and Prospects for the Organic Vegetable Market in the UK

The vegetable market is one of the largest sectors within the UK organic food market. This market grew by 30% per annum in the late 1990s and early 2000s, although it is now slowing down to a rate of 10-15% per annum. This growth has been caused by a greater consumer awareness of food safety, health and environmental issues and has been further stimulated by the increased presence of the multiple retailers in the market. In contrast, the production of UK organic vegetables has been slower and constrained due to the time it takes growers to convert land to organic production, by lack of knowledge of organic systems and higher costs of conversion faced by many vegetable growers. However, by the year 2000, growers had responded to improved economic and policy incentives, and now the UK is 58% self sufficient in organic vegetables. In the future, market growth and
the numbers of farmers converting are likely to be slower and any market growth will depend on broadening the customer base, expanding different market channels and increasing home production especially at the beginning and the end of the season, thus enabling a substitution of imports.