Sustainability Research

Analysis of Increasing Levels of Industrialization and Concentration in the US Organic Food Industry

Kudzai Mukumbi, Dave D. Weatherspoon

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of increasing levels of concentration in the organic food industry using the Structure-Conduct-Performance framework.  Three tools are used in the analysis, organic market concentration analysis; content analysis of annual and sustainability reports; and firm performance graphical analysis. Results from this study show that organic food manufacturing is highly concentrated. Consolidation in the organic industry has led to retailers focusing on organic product strategies while manufacturers focus more on sustainability issues. Firms that grew faster in terms of sales, used acquisitions and introduction of organic private labels as their main competitive strategies.

The Food SCENE is sponsored by:

• College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Office of Campus Sustainability
• Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics
• Guyer-Seevers Chair in Natural Resource Conservation
• Institute of International Agriculture
• W.K. Kellogg Chair
• Land Policy Institute
• Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station
• Betty and David Morris Chair
• Nowlin Chair of Consumer-Responsive Agriculture
• Office of the Provost
• Elton R. Smith Chair
• Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project
• Vice President For Research and Graduate Studies
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

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Last Updated 03/19/2011