The Big "O" 7788

So if people won't buy organic until it reaches an economy of scale that reduces the price, how does it achieve that economy of scale?

You make a couple of incorrect buttumptions -- or, more correctly, leave a few things out. Food that is not genetically-modified or contains artificial preservatives has a shorter shelf life, which raises its price because it can't be sold for so long. Many organic farmers and do not receive the subsidies the U.S. government provides growers of corn, wheat, and soybeans, which raises the price of these and other crops (because you're actually paying more of the true cost as an individual consumer). It certainly is cheaper to house a few thousand chickens or cattle in one building than to let them range freely. And you may be surprised to find out how many large food companies (like Unilever, Kellogg, General Mills, Coca-Cola, and Dean, among others) own natural-food companies. Think they couldn't apply some economies of scale -- if they wanted to?

There are many good reasons why organics appear to cost more than conventional foods. Whether organic truly does cost more or whether conventional foods simply shift the costs of topsoil erosion and food additive testing and regulation and the like to all of us is a conversation of itself.

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