A 3,400-percent increase in sales in 24 years makes organic the fastest-growing consumer food and lifestyle trend in modern history, say independent researchers looking into the industry’s strategies and marketing practices.

What they’ve found, though, isn’t pretty. Those robust sales, they say, were built on the backs of American taxpayers with deceptive practices involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a willing participant.

With sales of $35 billion in the U.S. and $63 billion worldwide, the organic marketing industry has become very sophisticated, researchers found, working through advocacy groups brought in to practice fear-mongering, but without exposing the pricey organic brands that have grown up during this period of explosive growth.

When expanded to the so-called “natural products,” the organic industry’s sales reached $290 billion last year in the U.S. alone. But it seems the organic industry acts mostly out of fear that more consumers may come to accept the cheaper, conventional products as safe.
The “Organic Marketing Report” by Academics Review looks at the 25-year history of the modern organic industry. The independent international organization, founded by professors from the University of Illinois and the University of Melbourne, only accepts unrestricted monetary contributions.....To Read More.....