Reactions to story from Guardian

• 

  Organic Foods in the Food Crisis

  http://www.digivu.co.za/2008/09/organic-foods-in-the-food-cr...
  66 days ago in DIGIVU- Dave Harcourt’s Blogs Combined · Authority: 11

  The movement in the Organic food market is important to Africa is we do intend increasing the use of Organic as a selling point, but also because it is an indicator of how people in Europe are going to react to increasing food prices. Tesco, the UK chain, decreased it’s prices in August 2008 by up to 25 per cent, “in response to feedback from consumers who are feeling the effects of the credit crunch” Tesco believe consumers were already less willing to pay the premium price of Organic Foods, in the face of higher prices on basic commodities and the general economic downturn. Late in August USA Today reported on declines in the growth of Organic food in the USA, which they linked to their premium price. At the end of August the Guardian reported on data collected for it by market research group TNS. from: Guardian (click image for full story online) The information showed the UK suffered the worst decline in sales over the last 10 years. Although the Soil Association had different data they acknowledged the fact that the consumers situation was definitely effecting sales. The Private Sector Development Blog of the World bank noted the decrease reported on by the Guardian , but added that the effect on purchases from Developing Countries will be lower because most Organic Food is purchased from Developed Countries. Another article by the Guardian wondered whether this quick reversal in the face of the economic downturn indicates that the Organic movement is just a fad. On the other hand the Dane’s consumption of organic foods seems not to be effected by food price increases. from: Tree Hugger (click image for full story online) Tree Hugger believes this is a result of an older organic system and the fact that retail is wider spread, down to the corner store. Interesting is the fact that Restaurants & Caterers can be certified at bronze, silver and gold levels, depending on the content of organic ingredients in their food. The final question is what effect will the current financial crisis, assuming its is going take years to correct, have on the development of the Organic Sector over the short and medium terms.
• 

  Organic farmers feel the pain

  http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/09/04/organic_food_affor...
  89 days ago in How the World Works - Salon.com · Authority: 766

  Can we afford the organic lifestyle? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently predicted that out of all the G7 elite group of rich countries, only Britain is headed for recession, this year. Britain's housing market, reports The Guardian got even more out of whack than the U.S.', and home prices are falling faster and further. Combine that with high energy and food prices and, well, you can guess the rest. The Guardian also reports that economic woes are resulting in a troubling display of collateral damage. Organic food sales have gone into free fall, swiftly dropping by 20 percent from their peak earlier this year. (Thanks to the Private Sector Development blog for the tip.) Figures collected for the Guardian by the market research company TNS show spending on organic food and drinks fell from a peak of nearly £100m a month earlier this year to £81m in the most recent four-week period recorded. The fall has been steepest in eggs, but is also reported in the most popular sectors, including dairy, fruit and vegetables and chicken. Some farmers are reportedly returning to non-organic production. I think the Guardian's Juliette Jowit is pushing the provocative envelop when she asks "Was the organic food revolution just a fad?" A commitment to organic food is not like a changing hemline. But as a sign of how powerful price signals are for consumer behavior, the changing consumption patterns in the U.K. can't be ignored.
• 

  Organic farmers feel the pain

  http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/09/04/organic_food_affor...
  83 days ago in How the World Works - Salon.com · No authority yet

  Can we afford the organic lifestyle? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently predicted that out of all the G7 elite group of rich countries, only Britain is headed for recession, this year. Britain's housing market, reports The Guardian got even more out of whack than the U.S.', and home prices are falling faster and further. Combine that with high energy and food prices and, well, you can guess the rest. The Guardian also reports that economic woes are resulting in a troubling display of collateral damage. Organic food sales have gone into free fall, swiftly dropping by 20 percent from their peak earlier this year. (Thanks to the Private Sector Development blog for the tip.) Figures collected for the Guardian by the market research company TNS show spending on organic food and drinks fell from a peak of nearly £100m a month earlier this year to £81m in the most recent four-week period recorded. The fall has been steepest in eggs, but is also reported in the most popular sectors, including dairy, fruit and vegetables and chicken. Some farmers are reportedly returning to non-organic production. I think the Guardian's Juliette Jowit is pushing the provocative envelop when she asks "Was the organic food revolution just a fad?" A commitment to organic food is not like a changing hemline. But as a sign of how powerful price signals are for consumer behavior, the changing consumption patterns in the U.K. can't be ignored.
• 

  Bad prices rising

  http://scratchpad.roaringshrimp.com/?p=117
  86 days ago in Scratchpad · Authority: 2

  Bad prices rising Filed under: Glitchy, The Global Media Posted by: @ 9:11 am High prices and higher prices make the news. Yet, behind the prices and price variation are narratives that often go missing in mainstream journalism. Consider the recent rise in fuel prices. Conde Nast Portfolio provides additional context with a striking graphic; in “Cruel Fuel World” they illustrate the extent that the (high) retail price of gasoline varies across the globe. What are the reasons behind the variation? Geographic price differentials are only one aspect of a larger story. To identify another from this past week, consider The Guardian story, ”Shoppers lose their taste for organic food:” Organic food sales have fallen more than at any time in the last decade as shoppers try to cut costs and experts warn that consumers are more confused than ever about whether it is worth paying the higher prices… According to the Guardian, consumers are choosing to relieve pressure on the household budget by trading-off “environmental and other ethical” considerations they might have been willing to pay for in the past. Households in the UK have started to substitute cheaper produce or other food products for organic choices. Their demand for organic foods is said to be elastic to changes in household income and well being. To return to the larger example. Consider the texture behind this question: how much will people cut their use of gasoline as gasoline prices rise? (see “price elasticity of demand” - Wikipedia). For starters, it seems to be that ”the average price-elasticity of demand for gasoline is -0.26. That is, a 10% hike in the price of gasoline lowers quantity demanded by 2.6%” (from Mike Moffat). This is a near term figure. Mike goes on to point out that over the long-run (over 1 year), “the price elasticity of demand is -0.58; a 10% hike in gasoline causes quantity demanded to decline by 5.8% in the long run.” This reveals a bit of texture: behaviors can vary over time. For gasoline, the greater long-term elasticity of demand is likely due to an improved ability of consumers to restructure their household investments (type of car they drive, distance they live from work) over the longer run. In the short run, consumers have fewer options given the costs involved. I recently read a piece on the dilemma of “Qat” as posed on the World Bank’s Private Sector Development Blog (WB-PSD). Qat is a mild narcotic/stimulant produced by a plant popular in areas around the Horn of Africa (see Wikipedia), According to the WB-PSD, the Yemeni authorities are trying to persuade its citizens to grow other crops and appear to be having a rough go of it [1.]: But reducing the supply of qat - absent any change in demand - should simply increase the price of qat until it equlibriates with changes in overall food prices. To make matters worse … I suspect that the demand for qat is even less elastic than the demand for cigarettes. Thus, the price elasticity of demand is an indicator of a complicated array of individual behaviors and societal choices. Consider just one story of many that lies behind food. The United States Depart of Agriculture (USDA) website has a dataset labeled “Price Elasticity for Food Subgroups (for 114 countries).” Sliced one way, that dataset reveals: the X-axis are the food subgroups represented; the Y-axis is the price elasticity of demand, the more negative the number indicates that consumers are more price sensitive (change in demand per change in price). This dataset (and others) are available here; go to the Excel spreadsheet to to identify the names of the 114 sampled countries. The chart illustrates that food subgroups such as “Breads and cereals” and “fats, oils” are relatively inelastic compared to the other subgroups. Furthermore, these subgroups contain less variability across the countries sampled. Whereas demand for “Beverages, tobacco” seems more elastic. In terms of narrative, it is easier to understand the constriction around the staples such as bread and oils, those are the necessities. In case you wondered, the greater elasticity range for “Beverages and tobacco” is driven by the African (mostly) countries: Tanzania -1.375 Nigeria -1.369 Tajikistan -1.355 Mali -1.339 Kenya -1.309 Malawi -1.243 Yemen -1.231 Zambia -1.223 Congo -1.186 Sierra Leone -1.180 Turkmenistan -1.143 Madagascar -1.110 Benin -1.080 Mongolia -1.029 Cote d’Ivoire -1.011 I would guess that it is because these are among the poorest (hence more likely to be price sensitive when it comes to items in this relatively non-essential category). Prices and economic statistics in general can be used to flesh out more complete pictures of places, people, and nations. Too bad most narratives are limited to variations of “the price of X is going up and therefore it must be bad” or vice versa. [1.] See also, the Wall Street Journal, “Yemen Wields Capitalism in War on Narcotic Plant”, August 26, 2008: …Easy to grow and sell domestically, qat appears to have ballooned at the expense of other crops… Between 2002 and 2006, one agriculture ministry official estimates, the number of acres used to cultivate qat increased by more than 40%. According to a separate estimate, qat plants cover as much as 20% of all agricultural land in the country…
• 

  Croissance & environnement

  http://www.antagoniste.net/?p=3982
  89 days ago in Antagoniste.net - Site d’opinions droitistes : âme sensible s’abstenir ! · Authority: 38

  Depuis le début de l'année, les ventes d'aliment bios ont diminué de 20% en Angleterre, la baisse la plus sévère de la décennie.  La diminution est si draconienne que des agriculteurs bios ont décidé de se reconvertir à l'agriculture conventionnelle. Quelle est la cause de cette baisse ?   Devant composer avec une économie stagnante se traduisant par une diminution du pouvoir d'achat, les Britanniques considèrent qu'il ne vaut pas la peine de payer plus pour consommer des produits bios. On voit ici un paradoxe de la gauche environnementale.  Pour cette gauche, le futur de la planète passe par l'achat d'aliments bios et par l'abandon du modèle économique de croissance perpétuelle.  Or, sans croissance économique, les gens n'ont pas les moyens d'acheter des aliments bios. Tags: Gauche, Environnement, Économie, Croissance, Richesse, Développement, Capitalisme, Agriculture, Biologique
• 

  The price of organic food

  http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2008/09/the-price-of-or...
  90 days ago in PSD Blog - The World Bank Group · Authority: 156

  The Guardian reports that organic food sales in the UK have started to tumble (Hat tip: African Agriculture). Sales have fallen nearly 20 percent in the last four-week period. Fortunately for developing countries, it looks like UK consumers were never very interested in buying organic produce from the developing world. Meanwhile, Juliette Jowit asks whether organic food was just a fad?
• 

  The price of organic food

  http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2008/09/the-price-of-or...
  90 days ago in PSD Blog - The World Bank Group · Authority: 200

  The Guardian reports that organic food sales in the UK have started to tumble (Hat tip: African Agriculture). Sales have fallen nearly 20 percent in the last four-week period. Fortunately for developing countries, it looks like UK consumers were never very interested in buying organic produce from the developing world. Meanwhile, Juliette Jowit asks whether organic food was just a fad?

Advertise on Technorati