Organic food has made its way from the shopping baskets of a few health conscious to the mainstream consumer and has become the fastest growing food category in supermarkets.

According to the Whole Foods Market Organic Foods Trend Tracker more than 50 percent of Americans have tried organic foods, with nearly one-third claiming to consume more organic foods and beverages than one year ago.

According to QMI, an US registrar for businesses and services, the organic industry is growing at a rate of about 20 percent annually, making it the fastest growing agricultural sector in the United States.
Based on the Whole Foods Market Organic Foods Trend Tracker the category with the most growth over the year is snacks, with 18 percent of users claiming to infrequently purchase organic snacks.

According to the Natural Food Merchandiser, American shoppers spent more than $51 billion on natural and organic products in 2005. Organic nutrition bars, beer and wine and foodservice segments of the market grew more than 30 percent occurred in the. Overall, 14 percent of the U.S. population is eating more organic foods than they were one year ago.

Organics are also the fastest growing sector in the Canadian food industry. A decade ago, organic food made up less than one per cent of the grocery business in this country. At present, President's Choice offers more than 300 products. The demand for organics is currently outpacing production, leaving a gap that is being filled by imports.

According to the 2006 agriculture census by Statistics Canada, 15,511 farms reported growing organic products last May. That includes farmers that have been certified organic by an authorizing agency, those that are in the process of getting certified, and those who simply declare that they're organic. The number of certified organic producers increased by nearly 60 per cent from 2001 to 3,555.

In October of 2007 the province of Manitoba announced it will regulate organic food production in the province, a step designed to strengthen opportunities for producers. The Organic Agricultural Products Act is designed to support Manitoba’s fast-growing organic industry, leading to new opportunities for local farmers.

In Canada the National Standard for Organic Agriculture was approved by the Standards Council of Canada in 1999. Certification is voluntary in all provinces except for Quebec.
Federal regulations apply to inter-provincial and international trade while the proposed provincial legislation will apply to trade within the province.

British Columbia has a voluntary system governing organic food.