I’ve definitely overused the saying, “Happiness is a journey, not a destination.”

Often it’s used sarcastically when we’re nearing the completion of an issue and realize we still have a long way to go. It breaks the tension, if only for me.

With any herculean effort, there will be moments when frustration levels grow so high, disagreements so intense and positions so immovable that one has to wonder…will progress ever be made. Of course, this lockup is usually indicative of a highly worthy cause.

The organic movement is such a cause.

Because of its growth, interest in the organic movement has swelled to an all time high. Blackberry-addicted investment bankers and globe-trotting CEOs are cutting deals with hippie entrepreneurs, trying to capture a little bit of the magic that is the organic movement. Not everyone is happy about it.

Issues of responsibility, sustainability and transparency are being hotly debated in the organic industry, and for good reason. These principles form a critical part of the foundation for the organic movement. Without them, organic really isn’t organic…or is it? This organic industry is certainly going through some growing pains.

Last year I attended the inaugural Organic Summit. It was an eye opening experience. The energy was intense. Every attendee had something significant to say about the organic movement, where it came from, where it was headed and what needed to change. It was one of the best conferences I attended in 2007.

I will again attend the Organic Summit, June 25-27th at the St. Julien in Boulder, Colorado to experience this energy. This year’s timely theme is “Cultivating Innovation and Transparency in the Organic Community”.

For more than 30 years, organic leaders have been changing the landscape of the U.S. food industry. This fringe movement has grown from its counter-culture roots into a broadly adopted market representing over 3% of total retail food sales in the United States, growing between 15-20% annually.

I strongly encourage anyone in, or interested in, the business of organic products to attend this special two-day event in Boulder. You will walk away with the most up to date information on the organic industry. You will walk away having met the most important leaders of the organic movement. But most importantly, you will walk away with a very nuanced understanding of how to be successful in the U.S. organic products industry.

To register, go to: http://www.theorganicsummit.com/register.cfm

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

These two classic sentences capture the essence of where the organic industry sits, straddling two extremes. It comes down to the fundamentals of business: supply and demand. And while demand continues to outpace every conventional counterpart, with steady double-digit growth in sales numbers for organics, the industry is faced with an extremely tight supply chain. Register today and join the NBJ editorial team and Organic food & beverage industry experts as they present findings from the latest Organic Market Overview issue of Nutrition Business Journal.

NBJ’s Organics Market Overview webseminar will be on April 24th at 11am MT/1pm ET. To register, click here: http://nbj.stores.yahoo.net/organicfoods.html

In this webseminar, NBJ will present sales data on 54 product categories and 6 sales channels. Sales forecasts through 2017, a top organic manufacturer/marketer list and color commentary on the U.S. Organic Food & Beverage market will also be presented.

Topics that the experts will discuss will include:

• Organic farming, supply & distribution issues

• The rise of conventional retailing of organics

• The status of the organic supplements & ingredients

• High growth product categories including:

o Organic cotton & textiles

o Organic chocolate

o Organic wine

o Organic meat

o Organic dairy

o Organic pet care

• Import issues for the U.S. organic market

Click to REGISTER TODAY! For one registration fee of $495, each company may have up to six participants access the presentation. Participants will be provided access to a website for the live presentation.

Nutrition Business Journal is certainly known for its supplement & nutitional ingredient research, but the quality of our organics market research is without parallel. I highly recommend that anyone in or interested in the organic market register and attend this webseminar. The amount of data we present, relative to the cost, will make it an incredible value for all.

-Patrick

Subscribers to NBJ will be receiving a double-issue (48 pages) Organic Market Overview in mid-April. Our editorial team decided the organic market, with its sustained high double-digit growth and broad distribution, warranted double-issue status.

In this issue, we will be covering the following topics:

Multinational Food Companys and their activies in the U.S. market

Organic Pet Care Market Overview

Organic Farming & Supply Issues Update

Conventional Retailing of Organics

Organic Supplements & Ingredients

Organic Dairy Market Overview

Organic Baby Food Market Overview

Organic Cotton & Textiles Market Overview

Organic Chocolate Market Overview

Organic Wine Market Overview

Organic Meat Market Overview

Organic Distribution Update

To pre-order a copy of the March/April 2008 Organic Market Overview, call NBJ’s Subscriber Services department at 303.998.9221 or email info@nutritionbusiness.com.

The 2008 Natural Products Expo West held in Anaheim, California this month grew11% in its 28th year to 52,000 total attendees. 3,392 exhibitors filled a tradeshow floor packed with attendees in a year when Anaheim officials report that other tradeshows in the center have been down an average of 10-12% in attendance. New Hope Natural Media cited gluten-free foods, certified fair trade products, reusable shopping bags and healthy kid-sized foods as just a few of the new product trends highlighted at the show.

NBJ was present at the show, meeting with all types of exhibitors - natural personal care, organic, supply and supplements manufacturers. NBJ also spoke at a number of New Hope presented seminars, which will be posted in the NBJ Subscribers-Only area accessible to NBJ Subscribers.

A longstanding advocate for the dietary supplement industry, Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, published a response to the Roger Clemens steroid scandal and the general argument “Supplements Made Me Do It” that so many professional athletes utilize when caught using dangerous & illegal steroids.

He eloquently writes, “As a child, I couldn’t get away with rule-breaking by saying, “The devil made me do it!” Yet this is essentially what some Major League Baseball players say when accused of steroid use: “The supplements made me do it.”"

This Washington Post article is very well written and worth a close read. This is surely not the last we will hear of steroid usage in professional and Olympic sports this year, but we can only hope that the monotonous blaming of supplements for positive steroid tests will grow as old in consumers ears as it does in ours.

-Patrick

-Patrick