BUYING ORGANIC FOODS:
Dr. Phil Howard, an Assistant Professor at Michigan State, is responsible for the creation and updating of the organic food business chart. He teaches in the University’s Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies program.
Dr. Howard has now created a new graphically animated version of consolidation occurring in the organic food sector between 1995 and 2007. You can view this by clicking on this link:
http://www.msu.edu/~howardp/OrganicIndustry.mov
Dr. Howard’s first organic food sector chart, from 2002 (the date the USDA’s organic standards were implemented), offers an interesting comparison of the dramatic changes that have taken place with organics over the past 4 years. You can view the 2002 organic food sector chart by clicking here.
Two other revealing presentations of organic business have also been prepared by Dr. Howard. These are a chart of major independent organic companies and a chart of private label organic brands, including supermarket chains, specialty chains and distributors.
All of the charts are in a pdf format and may take a few moments to load, depending on your connection speed.
Dr. Howard has other interesting information on the structure of the organic industry at his site.
Take advantage of your "purchasing power" and visit our local health food store. You support the companies you give your dollars to, so through educating yourself about what you are purchasing, you can support the small organic farmers and their continued production of healthy products.
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