How much will Canadian restaurants embrace organic?

In case anyone did not know, this week (September 8th-16th) is Organic Week in Canada. This is a chance to highlight the farming practices that underpin this form of food production, as well as the actual produce that is available to the public.

The government has given its backing to the event, stating that the market for certified organic products is now worth $5.4 billion, including $500 million of exports. Moreover, it is set to grow significantly in the next few years, with a recent $8.3 million investment by the government into new productivity enhancements. The growth goals include achieving $75 billion of annual agri-food exports by 2025.

Minister of agriculture and agri-food Lawrence MacAulay said: "I am proud to mark Organic Week and celebrate the many successes of this industry. Our Government is committed to support our organic farmers and food businesses who are key to delivering our world-class products across the country and around the world. The federal investments into the science and standards of organic agriculture will continue to help the sector grow more and grow better."

The sector has already been enjoying significant expansion, even without this extra help. The Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA) used this week to announce that organic produce now has a 2.6 per cent share of the grocery market, compared with 1.7 per cent in 2012, and it is now the fifth-largest market in the world for organic foods. 

Of course, a great deal of the market is expressed through the sales of produce in the stores to consumers who will cook it at home. But even though this is still a fairly niche element of the food market, there is enough for the restaurant sector to at least take it into account. 

There are different possible approaches to this, of course. One of them is to go the whole way and set up an establishment serving nothing but organic produce - something that may be viable in some of the larger cities where there is a significant hipster crowd. A more subtle approach may be to simply use organic produce where it makes sense, and that means not having to pay much more than alternative ingredients would cost. A premium may work in a specialised restaurant, but others can take a more measured approach to keep prices down while embellishing their green credentials. 

Plenty of organic restaurants exist in the big cities. In Toronto, for example, there are dozens, the majority of which also cater for the growing vegetarian and vegan market. Many others, however, do serve meat dishes. These include establishments such as Harvest Green, Plancha and Panago Pizza.

COTA is certainly pushing hard for more organic food in 'food service settings'. These don't just include restaurants, but cafes, schools and hospitals. It stated that new research by Technomic will soon be published showing that "consumer demand remains high, continuing to push the industry to offer more and more organic options in food service settings".

All this would suggest that, even if not making an overtly organic menu a key selling point, restaurants will need to pay increasing attention to prioritising the provision of organic produce in their menus.