Ceres Organics: Platinum Sponsor of the 2020/21 Market Report
Noel Josephson, Managing Director, Ceres Organics
Ceres Organics is a leader in Aotearoa’s organic movement. Named after the Roman goddess of the harvest, Ceres was the first organic food store in New Zealand. In 2001, Ceres became the first BioGro certified organic distributor in New Zealand and in 2009 it became the first Australasian company to get Eco-Social certification, a Fair Trade certification specifically for the organic sector. The company is responsible for establishing the health and wellness category in supermarkets across New Zealand — now a core growth category in FMCG.
Ceres chose to support the OANZ 2020/21 New Zealand Organic Sector Market Report as a platinum sponsor. The Market Report explores the growth of the New Zealand organic market by capturing the current state of the domestic market across the entire supply chain.
Here, Noel Josephson, Ceres Organics’ Managing Director, shares his thoughts on Aotearoa’s growing organic market.
As a platinum sponsor, why is the market report so important?
It is an important platform to share the good stories, raise awareness and increase support for retailers to help drive the groundswell of people who want to switch to organics.
As leaders in the organic movement within New Zealand, the market report provides an opportunity to collate and report on the growing movement that is behind the spread of love of organic in New Zealand, including:
Increased awareness of consumers’ switch to organics
The breadth of available products
The true success stories within New Zealand
The expansion of New Zealand’s organic products around the globe via export opportunities, and the role this is playing in developing a more sustainable future for the people and the planet.
How has the organic market changed for you over the last five years?
Over the last five years, there have been a plethora of new organic entrants into the marketplace often with a single-minded proposition and focus, bringing new news and users to the category. Traditionally a healthfood store offer, organic ranges have begun to mainstream in many categories - the range on offer in supermarkets has grown exponentially in both the number of items, range on offer and the brands that are bringing products to market.
Shoppers have started to look for a wider number of products that are organic as they improve the quality of foods that they feed themselves and their families. The range of fresh produce items readily available in season has increased as demand grows, and more growers switch to organic farming.
The entrance of private label with organic offering has expanded dramatically over the last 12 – 18 months driving prices down making commodity items more accessible.
Where do you think the organic market is heading and how do you plan to be a part of it?
At Ceres Organics, we believe that in order to ensure that there is a future we need to bring more consumers on the organic journey. There is a need to educate to ensure that consumers are making the right choices for the future of the planet. We are being warned by the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation that if we continue the way we are going, we will have depleted the soil so much that we will have fewer than 60 harvests left (there needs to be immediate and ongoing action to remedy this).
Supporting organics is a pathway forward. Educating consumers as to the true cost of a purchase is a great starting point. Education drives the change in consumer thinking, and we will continue as advocates to supply and educate the benefits of organics to people and the planet. We will continue the journey that we started 40 years ago — bringing healing to the earth and humankind through organics.