Food consumption and expenditure studies are essential parts of market research. They
allow us to better understand the motivation behind individual and household purchase behavior.
They also aid us in determining factors driving these behaviors to better implement marketing
strategies, funding initiatives and food safety regulations. Recent research has focused its
attention on a trend that has grown exponentially over the past decade, one that has captured the
attention of agriculture communities all over the world. Organic agriculture has proven its
popularity with growing sales over the past decade. On average, organic products have generated
$5 billion in sales per year over the last decade (Guido et al. 2009) and can now be found in any
conventional supermarket. Before the commercialization of organic foods, nearly two thirds ofavailable organic products were sold by natural products retailers. A consumer searching for
organic products would always have to seek a specialty grocer or natural retailer to purchase
these types of foods. According to a USDA report, these natural retailers only occupied 1% of all
food stores in the United States (Dimitri and Greene, 2002). Consequently, organic foods were
not readily available until large supermarkets began to identify and adapt to the growing trend in
organic agriculture. By the year 2000, conventional supermarkets were selling 49% percent of
organic products and some were also outselling natural retailers in categories such as organic
milk and tofu (Dimitri and Greene, 2002).