{"id":189042,"date":"2018-11-10T04:40:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-10T09:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=189042"},"modified":"2018-11-10T04:40:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-10T09:40:17","slug":"money-monitor-much-pricier-organic-groceries-items-nearly-par","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/10\/money-monitor-much-pricier-organic-groceries-items-nearly-par\/","title":{"rendered":"Money Monitor: How much pricier are organic groceries? Some items nearly on par"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI remember when I was a kid, it used to be a huge excitement for us to get a Spanish clementine and now we have mandarins and clementines available all year long, both organic and non-organic.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: U.S. Department of Agriculture\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 Vanessa Baratta is cut up about purchasing organic produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrice factors into it now that I’m a homeowner. Beforehand I didn’t really care,\u201d said the 29-year-old urban planner, reaching hesitantly for a package of pesticide-free mixed greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to go with mostly organic, but it’s much more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baratta tries to eat and drink with an environmental conscience. \u201cBut there’s other things that I’d rather spend my money on than organic fruits and vegetables.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts peg the price premium for organic food products at between 20 and 60 per cent. All but one item \u2014 spinach \u2014 out of 17 were at least 20 per cent more expensive in the organic section, according to a 2016 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Eggs and milk tended to be among the costliest.<\/p>\n

But fret not, frugal fruit finder. Seasonal fluctuations and a longer shelf life for some products, on top of the time-tested tactics of buying in bulk and hewing toward house brands, mean organic consumption doesn’t have to suck your savings dry.<\/p>\n

Several organic and conventionally grown items consistently boast comparable prices \u2014 \u201cThe Big Five,\u201d as dubbed by Pat Pessotto, vice-president of merchandising and procurement at Longo’s, a southern Ontario grocery chain.<\/p>\n

Apples, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and pre-packed salads make up the bunch. They’re often locally grown \u2014 meaning lower transport costs \u2014 and have longer storage times, making them less susceptible to price fluctuation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow the season and follow what Mother Nature is offering up for that time of year,\u201d Pessotto said. \u201cPersonally, I like snacking on organic carrots.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a Provigo grocery in Montreal, a 900-gram bag of organic baby carrots cost $5.99, 20 per cent more than the $4.99 non-organic package.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, organic bell peppers and bananas cost $3 each and $1.29 per pound, respectively, versus $1.67 each and 79 cents per pound for their conventionally grown brethren \u2014 a top-up of 80 per cent and 63 per cent.<\/p>\n

When produce is in season, the price difference drops due to greater supply, noted Andrew Telfer, vice-president of health and wellness a the Retail Council of Canada.<\/p>\n

The price premium derives partly from higher costs for farmers who swear off products such as synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge and genetic engineering as well as growth hormones and antibiotics. But it also comes from processors and retailers who must ensure organic products don’t rub leaf by jowl with non-organic items during storage or transportation \u2014 all necessary to earn organic certification from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreservatives, colouring agents, synthetic fertilizers are used in the food system not because the human diet needs them but to benefit the food system on reduced costs,\u201d said Tia Loftsgard, executive director of the Canada Organic Trade Association.<\/p>\n

Loftsgard also stressed the challenge of price comparisons, citing package sizes, \u201cseasonality\u201d and ingredient differences.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Vallaeys, a policy analyst with Consumers Union in the U.S., said that \u201ca lot of the cost that consumers pay does not go to the farmer; it goes to processing, and it goes to marketing the food.\u201d<\/p>\n

One way to skirt that premium is to toss a house-brand organic item in your cart rather than a non-organic branded one, she said. Adopting a coupon-collecting habit is another option. Buying in bulk \u2014 including direct from the farm \u2014 and growing your own greens, from kale to coriander, can also cut costs while still yielding the benefits touted by organic champions.<\/p>\n

About 66 per cent of shoppers buy organic products weekly, according to the organic trade association. That number rises to 73 per cent among millennial customers, with the numbers continuing to grow, said Dan Branson, senior director of produce for Loblaw Companies Ltd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think of organics being a\u00a0lifestyle\u00a0choice for a lot of people who are thinking about their health and wellness,\u201d he said. Products under the President’s Choice house label have mushroomed into the hundreds over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I was a kid, it used to be a huge excitement for us to get a Spanish clementine and now we have mandarins and clementines available all year long, both organic and non-organic.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Vanessa Baratta is cut up about purchasing organic produce. \u201cPrice factors into it now that I’m a homeowner. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":189043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","mauthors-christopher-reynolds","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}