A survey conducted early in 2024 and released on Tuesday by the Organic Trade Association shows that organic products reached a new record return of $70 billion in 2023. 

The sector saw an increase of 3.4% from 69.7 billion last year despite price inflation. The organization reports that costumers have been seeking out the USDA Organic label, with industry organic food sales in 2023 totaling $63.8 billion and sales of organic non-food products totaling $5.9 billion. 

The increase of dollar sales in the organic market was driven more by pricing than unit sales, but the report does show a boost in organic purchases regardless of higher pricing. Increases in unit sales were reported for up to 40% of the products tracked in this year’s survey. 

The gap between organic and conventional products is closing, prices for non-organic products have climbed at a faster rate than organic products, helping fuel the growth for organic produce in 2024. 

Organic produce holds first place as the largest sold organic category in 2023 and the primary entry point for consumers into the organic market. 

In 2023, the category grew by 2.6 percent to $20.5 billion. Organic produce now accounts for more than 15 percent of total U.S. fruit and vegetable sales.

Top sellers in the organic produce section were avocados, berries, apples, carrots, and packaged salads, and organic bananas saw stronger growth in 2023 than non-organic bananas. 

The OTA’s report groups frozen foods together, but frozen fruits and vegetables saw sales grow 4.2% in 2023, while sales in the overall frozen category dropped 0.7%.

The second biggest-selling food category was the grocery category with sales of $15.4 billion for a 4.1 percent growth, which includes breads, grains, condiments, packaged and prepared foods. Third was beverages, followed by organic dairy and eggs and personal care products.