Organic agricultural products in Europe and USA

Abstract

In the most developed countries of Western Europe and North America, the share of organic farming in the food market is between 2% and 6%. The share of organic products on the Polish food market is only 0.33% (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_manment-2017-0011_ref_005">Dryjańska E. 2017</xref>). The aim of this article is to compare organic agricultural products in the US and EU. The scope of the comparison was covered by the legal regulations for organic production in the mentioned regions and the availability of organic products for customers. In order to highlight differences between the organic product and their traditional counterpart, selected meta-analyzes were conducted by authors in the field of medical and natural sciences. The possibilities of buying organic products are described on the basis of personal experiences of the author as a consumer. The offer of organic products was analyzed on the example of one European country (Poland) and the example of several states of America (Colorado, Virginia, New York). The rules for producing organic food in the US are more rigorous than in the EU. The offer of organic and conventional food targeted to the American consumer is comparable. Although Polish consumers have a positive perception of organic food, its supply is significantly different from the US market. The main differences are in distribution channels, product range, price and visual design of organic products.