Organic Produce Q1 report shows 'promising upward trend' for 2024

Organic produce grew overall in dollars by 4.1% and volume by 3.4%, according to the 2024 Q1 Organic Produce Performance report developed by Category Partners, a strategic insights company focusing exclusively on fresh industries in the retail grocery channel.

This growth illustrates an upward trend compared to prior years’ performance and also when compared to conventional produce. While conventional produce has seen a slight decline in total volume over the past five years, organic produce slightly outpaced conventional produce in both dollar and volume growth during this quarter.

Eleven of the top 20 organic commodities experienced growth in both dollars and volume, including berries, carrots, onions, broccoli and tomatoes.

The commodity driving increase in dollars was organic bananas, experiencing the most dollar growth at 15% year-over-year. Berries, citrus and tomatoes all saw double-digit dollar growth in the first quarter of 2024, with berries leading the quarter as the top organic category in overall dollars at $423 million.

In terms of volume, organic apples experienced double-digit growth in terms of volume, with a 16.6% increase during Q1. Bananas and herbs and spices grew 13% and 10%, respectively.

Perennial commodity leader packaged salads and lettuce tumbled in both dollars and volume during this period. Even so, packaged salads still ranked second in total dollar performance for the quarter, bringing in $373 million.

Bell peppers decreased nearly 15% in volume for Q1, the commodity with the largest drop. Cucumbers saw a decline of 10% with avocados, squash and celery hovering around 7% Q1 volume losses.

The South led all regions with 5.7% growth in dollars and 7.3% growth in volume over 2023. The other three regions saw consistent dollar and volume growth during the quarter.

The West Coast experienced a year-over-year decline in volume of 2.7% and the highest increase to the average price per pound of organics, rising by 3.8%. All other regions stayed the same or decreased their organic price per pound.