Organic berry sales topped $760 million in 2019 and comprised 12.3% of total retail berry sales, according to data from IRI. Marketers moved more than 13.7 million pounds of berries in 2019.
One third of all strawberry buyers said they opted for organic product at least some of the time, according to Organic Fresh Trends 2021. Fourteen percent said they always chose organic strawberries.
Age is a factor in organic strawberry purchases. Shoppers younger than 40 were much more likely—sometimes two or three times more likely—to always buy organic strawberries than older consumers.
Families with kids were more likely to always buy organic strawberries, at 16%, than those without kids, at 13%. Shoppers with two kids at home were twice as likely to always grab organic berries than those with three or more children.
For the third straight year, Western consumers comprised the region most likely to choose organic strawberries at least some of the time, followed by those in the Northeast.
More than half of Asian and African American strawberry buyers (53%) said they selected organic berries at least some of the time. Hispanic shoppers were the least likely to make a periodic organic strawberry purchase.