ABSTRACT
1 Demand for organic foods in North Carolina and the U.S. is growing. In 1998, a North Carolina research study was initiated to collect market-based data concerning retailer and wholesaler purchase and sales patterns for organic produce. For a fifteen-month period, prices paid by local retailers and wholesalers for directly purchased organic fruits and vegetables was recorded. In 1998 and 1999, twenty-seven natural food retailers and five organic fruit and vegetable wholesalers cooperated in a study to develop market-based data for the local organic industry. In addition to purchase and price data, cooperators offered opinions and views about organic trends, issues, and buyer preferences concerning organic produce through responses to 39 short answer questions. Retailer information suggested that annual North Carolina organic produce sales (retail value) could have exceeded $5,000,000 in 1998. Surveyed wholesalers indicated that they paid about $1.3 million to buy organic fruit and vegetable growers over the fifteen-month study period. Wholesalers and retailers indicated that organic growers received an average price premium of 25 percent when compared to price paid for comparable quality conventionally grown produce.
