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Organic food sales up in the US and UK

Organic food sales are rising in both the UK and US – but domestic organic production is stagnant, leading to a reliance on imports.

The UK organic food and drink market has registered its 14th year of consecutive growth and doubled in value in the last decade, according to the Soil Association.

The 2026 Organic Market Report, which tracks the value growth of the market over the previous year (January to December 2025) showed that overall sales of organic have increased 4.2% to £3.9bn (€4.5bn). The major driver of this growth has been in supermarkets with a sales uplift of 7%.

The US Organic Trade Association (OTA) also presented its 2025 results in March, showing sales reached $76.6bn (€66bn) with an annual growth rate of 6.8%. According to the 2026 Organic Market Report organic grew at double that of the comparable marketplace, which grew at 3.4%.

“For the third year in a row, organic has grown faster than the total market, which indicates shoppers are prioritising their health and the planet, and are willing to pay a premium for it,” says Tom Chapman, co-CEO of the OTA.

The positive results in the UK also reflect “the strong consumer demand for healthier, more nature-friendly food”, said Soil Association Certification commercial director Alex Cullen.

Are fears over UPFs fuelling interest in organic?

Indeed, one in three households are worried about ultra‑processed foods (UPFs) and actively seek out ‘cleaner’ products, the Soil Association report noted. Headlines about the health impacts of pesticides and PFAS, or forever chemicals, have also pushed shoppers towards organic products. Gen Z is a standout demographic: 42% buy organic monthly and are 92% more likely than millennials to choose organic produce.

Health is dominating consumer choices, which includes a desire for more protein, fibre, and nutrient density that is benefitting more whole foods. With a rising number of households in the UK having at least one GLP-1 drug user, the trend to smaller but more nutrient-rich meal portions will only become more prevalent.

Which categories are winning big in UK and US organic markets?

Supermarkets have taken note of this demand for healthy, high-quality nutrient-rich food, and have reacted with rebrands and expansions to their organic ranges, along with more price promotions and loyalty discounts. Tesco has revamped its 100 or so organic lines, citing that “quality, great‑tasting organic food really matters” to customers, whilst Waitrose expanded its Duchy range to 250 products. The unit growth of organic in UK supermarkets is four times that of non-organic as major retailers lean into organic growth.

In the US, grocery products are now second only to fresh produce with sales up 4.2% to $15.7bn (€13.5bn). Highlights of the year included ongoing growth in organic baby food and formula of 8.8%, now accounting for 11% of organic grocery sales. Dried beans, fruits, and vegetables grew at 13.6%, driven by consumer demand for shelf stable products, correlating to consumer desire for healthy plant-based foods, clean eating and overall affordability.

In poultry, meat, and seafood, the “big story in 2025” was the growth in organic beef, said the OTA in its report. Sales topped $1.4bn (€1.2bn) in sales with 44.3% growth.

Over-reliance on organic imports

Efforts to grow domestic organic supply are “in process” in order to relieve pressure on imports.

US organic food sales roughly doubled from 2012-2024, however, during the same period, domestic organic farmland actually declined, noted Paul Lightfoot, who leads the food business at Patagonia.

Lightfoot highlighted how “the rest of the developed world is moving in the opposite direction. The European Union has set a target of 25% organic farmland by 2030 (Austria [is] already at 27%). Global organic acreage increased 543% between 2000 and 2022, even as American organic acreage shrank.”

The UK is experiencing similar issues, as overall organic production remains stagnant. The latest government figures (covering 2024) had the overall percentage of UK farmland stuck at 3%; while there was an increase in land ‘in-conversion’ in England last year, this dramatically slowed when Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payments were frozen, the Soil Association noted.

Global sales of organic food and drink reached almost €145 billion euros in 2025, according to the 27th edition of The world of organic agriculture, published by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and IFOAM in February.

Organic agriculture is practised in more than 180 countries, and nearly 99 million hectares of agricultural land are managed organically by at least 4.8 million farmers.