Distribution Channels and Characteristic of Organic Food Market

In the last ten years, both the academic community and the general public became more interested in organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is a holistic production system, which sustains the natural soil activity, ecosystems and people. It supports ecological processes, biodiversity and normal life-cycle in the nature, respects the specifics of a locality and excludes inputs of a non-organic origin. Available statistical data show that there are 1,8 million producers from 160 countries that engage in organic agriculture. The numbers of organic farms and share of organic in total agricultural surfaces are constantly increasing. Development of organic agriculture, namely, increase of organic agriculture outputs, enables creation of the market for organic food. Next to the customer education, the key factor for organic food market development is the system of distribution of organic food products. Within the distribution system, the retail is found to be a key factor for the market’s future growth. The distribution of organic food is poorly researched. Hence, in this paper authors aim to systemize the organic food distribution channels into direct, indirect and emerging channels. Furthermore, this paper will present examples of organic food distribution channels from the US and European markets. Special attention will be devoted to analysis of saturated, growing and emerging organic food markets in the EU, with a focus on the dominant organic food distribution channels within specific national markets.