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Criticisms and Frequent Misconceptions about Organic Agriculture: The Counter-Arguments |
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Misconception Number 18: The organic movement is exacerbating the growing gap between rich and poor by contributing to a two-tiered national food supply, with healthy food for the rich and unhealthy food for the poor.
Summary of Counter-Arguments:
- Organic food is not only for the rich; many organic consumers are from the low-income economic class.
- It is possible to eat organic inexpensively. For example, eating vegetarian, in-season organic items is generally not more expensive and is healthier than the typical conventional diet.
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Details of Counter-Arguments:
There are a variety of consumption patterns among people who buy organic food and some organic consumption patterns are not more expensive than the average non-organic food consumption pattern. For example, a vegetarian, in-season, organic diet is generally not more expensive and is healthier than the typical conventional diet.
Furthermore, the price difference between organic and non-organic foods is decreasing as the organic sector develops, which means that the poor are increasingly able to choose organic products if they wish to do so. In reality, the incentives for people to choose organic food are many and income level is not the only determining factor. Many low-income households purchase organic products. In the US, a 2006 report by market research consultants The Hartman Group found out that Latino/Hispanic Americans and African Americans are much more likely than Caucasians to be core organic consumers. There is also a widely known correlation between education level and tendency to buy organic food. In addition, there are many cases of young consumers of organic products who have very low-incomes. In fact, there is such a large spectrum in the socio-economic characteristics of organic consumers that there is no such thing as a typical organic consumer profile. Therefore, it is not accurate to conclude that only the rich buy organic.
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