The Organic Produce Network (OPN) has released its State of Organic Produce 2022 report for the U.S., which indicated that the performance of individual organic produce categories ranged widely last year. Grapes were the fruit with the highest volume growth of 6.9% year-on-year. 

The report provides an overall view of organic produce retail performance in 2022 as well as specific insights into the top 20 organic produce categories.

While total organic produce sales increased by 3% and volume decreased by −3.7% year on year, the performance of the top 20 categories was quite variable as inflation and other pressures created a dynamic market environment.

The best performers in terms of year-on-year sales increases were onions (15.4%), cucumbers (11.3%), and potatoes (10.7%), while the worst performers were lettuce (−3.1%), celery (−2.3%), and bell peppers (−2.1%).

On the volume side, the best-performing organic commodities year over year were grapes (6.9%), herbs and spices (6.5%), and cucumbers (2.7%), while the weakest were lettuce (−12.7%), avocados (−11.4%), and apples (−10.3%).

The report also gave insight into the three bottom year-on-year volume performers. They all had significant contributing factors beyond inflation. 

Lettuce suffered aphid pressure in the desert due to warmer temperatures in Q1 and Q2 and was later dealt a devastating blow by INSV (impatiens necrotic spot virus) in the Salinas Valley in the fall/early winter; avocados had a lower-than-normal volume out of Mexico in the first half of the year; and apple supply was impacted by a very small Washington crop.

Two categories that bucked the organic produce sector’s overall trend of increased sales and decreased volume were fresh herbs and spices and grapes. Both categories posted year-on-year increases in sales and volume, with organic herbs and spices showing gains of 4.1% and 6.5%, respectively.

Organic grapes show respective gains of 8.3% and 6.9%. In short, last year’s highly inflationary environment wasn’t able to keep these two categories down. 

Berries took the top spot in total retail sales in 2022, edging out packaged salads ever so slightly with $1.561 billion in sales (packaged salad sales totaled $1.556 billion). 

Additionally, bananas held on to their spot as the top volume mover with nearly 509 million pounds sold at retail in 2022.

One data set that gives a very interesting look into organic produce performance is the price premiums commanded by various organic categories over their conventional counterparts. Of the categories analyzed, organic cucumbers took the lead in price premium percentage in 2022, selling for an average of 138% more per pound than conventional cucumbers. 

Celery, on the other hand, had one of the lowest premiums at 22% (dropping from 32% in 2021). Apparently, consumers were willing to pay a high price for an organic cucumber compared to a conventional one—but organic celery did not enjoy a similar elevated status.

Organic bananas, which were grappling with increased costs last year, had a very welcome gain in their price premium over conventional bananas, jumping from 25% in 2021 to 32% in 2022.

State of Organic Produce 2022 also explores the 20 leading categories by their regional performance, which varied quite widely in certain circumstances. 

A notable example was organic celery, which lost significant year-on-year volume in every region except the West where it posted an enormous gain of 26.7%, suggesting perhaps that the organic celery juicing trend is far more popular there than in the other three regions. 

Another incidence of disparate regional data involved organic fresh herbs and spices, which declined in volume in the Northeast by −9.4% yet posted a whopping 19.7% increase in the West. The latter region was clearly making these culinary favorites a priority in 2022 despite inflation.

 In terms of year-on-year performance that was consistent across the US, organic onions were a prime example as they enjoyed double-digit sales gains in all four regions, which makes sense given their staple-veg status.

 Packaged salads, an organic produce mainstay, also had similar results across all four regions, declining in volume by mid-single digits and increasing in sales by low single digits, closely reflecting the performance of the overall organic produce category.