Organic foods cheaper than conventional products?

The year starts with a surprise: Are organic foods really getting cheaper?
If you take a close look in the supermarket, you’ll notice that organic foods are currently often priced the same as conventional products.

Prices for conventional products rise

But what could be the reason for this? In fact, the war in Ukraine plays an important role here as well. The rising energy costs have driven up the prices of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. However, organic farming is less affected by this. Since organic farms grow plants that capture nitrogen from the air, they don’t rely on such fertilizers. Additionally, contracts with organic farmers often last for several years, ensuring stable prices.

Vegetables are cheaper, organic meat remains more expensive

Consumers benefit most from these prices with vegetables and some dairy products. However, there are no changes in the pricing of organic meat, which remains more expensive. The reason for this lies in the significantly higher costs of complying with organic certification requirements in animal husbandry: feed is more expensive, more land is needed to ensure species appropriate husbandry, and additional requirements make production more costly.

Whether organic foods have actually become cheaper or simply remain stable compared to rising supermarket prices is unclear. However, it’s certain that consumers are getting more quality at a fair price.