Shoppers Give Up Organics as Food Prices Soar

With a gallon of organic milk costing a whopping $7 and a conventional gallon going for $2.99, cash-strapped shoppers are skipping organic groceries. That means the $19 billion industry, which has ballooned 150% since 2001, may now be shrinking, Newsweek reports. “I miss it terribly,” said one former Whole Foods regular. “But I just can’t afford it anymore. Food everywhere is so expensive.”

In the last five years organic groceries have moved beyond health-food and gourmet shops to mainstream stores. But as farmers divert fields to grow grain for ethanol the price of food is soaring, and organic offerings, as usual, are well ahead of the curve. (More Whole Foods stories.)