Consumers searching for healthy food from trusted sources have fuelled the UK organic market’s biggest boom in two decades, according to vegetable box seller Riverford.
The delivery business, which sells meat, cheese, cookbooks and recipe boxes alongside vegetables, recorded a 6% increase in sales to £117m in the year to May 2025,
Ooooh, ooooh, squeal for piggie! 6% growth!
as the UK organic food and drink market grew by almost 9%
So Riverford is growing slower than the market. Hmm. Food inflation was 4.4% in the 12 months to May 2025. Corporate accounts are not inflation adjusted. So actual sales increased by 1.6%.
Boom, eh?
Chances are that after adjusting for increased prices charged to consumers the actual volume of sales remained static at best.
The phrase “running to stand still” is appropriate. Unless government steps in with other people’s money it never ends well.
We also need to know if Riverford’s prices rose with, above, or below inflation.
According to ChatGPT quoting Riverford’s own documents they rose 3% so that makes an increase of 3% in sales in real terms, not bad but hardly a boom and still less than the market.
All food is healthy depending on dietary intake.
When all our ancestors’ food was organic, hunger, starvation and disease was widespread – as it is in poor Countries where diet is organic and mostly not-by-choice vegetarian.
Guardian has an ‘Organics’ section?
You don’t know that, dumbass. Maybe they just like the taste. Or convenience (they do deliever!).
A WOT?
Then WTF do you call them ‘vegetable box seller?’
Because it fits your NARRATIVE, doesn’t it? Dumbass.
Betcha you have to be a vegan to work in the ‘Organics’ department.
“Maybe they just like the taste.”
One of the things with a lot of organic food is that it often doubles up as luxury food. If you’re already doing things well, not cutting corners, it’s often not difficult to also then do the organic things.
The Godminster Cheddar from Bruton is lovely stuff. And organic. But I bet it would taste just as nice with a load of inorganic fertiliser on the ground.
In other food news McDonalds reduces its vegan menu options from 5 to 1 due to lack of custom, a signal that the one that remains, the McPlant Burger, might be worth a try.
If only government could spot things there is reduced demand for and stop funding them.
Every Saturday, my local Lidl has 50% reduction stickers on most of the contents of its vegan section. It used to be two chiller units, it’s now down to half and they still can’t shift it.