The UK organic market has entered its thirteenth consecutive year of growth. It’s now worth £3.7bn with sales increasing across all key channels and product categories, according to the Soil Association’s 26th Organic Market Report 2025.
After a difficult couple of years, sales of organic food and drink across the foodservice sector increased 6.5% to £208m, largely thanks to a fall in inflation. “A growing movement of foodservice operators see organic as a practical route to help meet ESG commitments,” the report reads. Cited as an example is CH&Co, which has committed to ensuring 10% of its food and drink is organic by the end of this year. The caterer’s Vacherin brand already sources 57% of its milk from organic agriculture.
Organic dairy products have played a major role in the Soil Association’s Food for Life Served Here (FFLSH) certification, which supports caterers, schools and communities to create sustainable change through food.
Last year, there were £7.5 million sales into FFLSH sites, with an estimated 1.35 million FFLSH meals served, up from 1.25 million in 2023. Half of meals served under the FFLSH standards are prepared using at least one organic ingredient. Overall organic spend in FFLSH declined in 2024 – a result of high inflationary costs on raw ingredients and squeezed public sector budgets – but there was “robust growth” at universities and visitor attractions.
Value sales of organic food and drink in major retail, including supermarkets, increased 8% to £2.4bn, driven by uplifts in ambient grocery, fresh produce, and meat, fish and poultry. Sales via home delivery and in independent retailers were also up 3% (to £540.9m) and 9% (£517.6m) respectively.
“Cost-of-living pressures haven’t gone anywhere,” the Soil Association said. “But, now accustomed to higher prices, consumers are prioritising other areas, such as health and the environment. These priorities are here to stay.” Gen Z shoppers in particular are “increasingly motivated by healthy and sustainable choices and seeking out organic products”, said Soil Association Certification commercial and marketing director Georgia Philipsin.
In order to capitalise on these positive trends the sector needs support. There is still a widening gap between the organic market and organic production in England, for example, placing a heavy reliance on imports. Organic farmland has remained static for another year, while the percentage of organic land share has stagnated in England, representing just 3% of the country’s farmed area.
There are so many European countries where government and retailer support have been a catalyst for rapid organic growth, Philipsin said. The Association recently joined forces with leading nature and environmental NGOs to make the case for a 10% government target for land to be farmed organically. That target “will support a rapid transition with new financial opportunities for farmers and realise the significant health, nature and environmental benefits for the UK”, Philipsin added.
