IT'S far from the biggest market segment in agriculture, but organic is gaining the sort of momentum which has farmers and agribusiness investors sitting up to take notice.
In Australia, organic products represent less than one per cent of the food industry's $130 billion a year total turnover, but the market is growing at an impressive eight per cent across the Asia Pacific region.
Independent research within the beef industry also suggests organic producers are making as much as 25pc more in gross earnings than their conventional cattle producer neighbours, as market demand gains real momentum among mainstream retailers and food processors.
Organic has also won mainstream investor recognition from the likes of former Patrick ports and logistics boss Chris Corrigan and the Kathmandu adventure wear founder Jan Cameron, both of whom were key investors in the success of burgeoning Tasmanian company Bellamy's Organic.
Organic boom has legs
By next year organic product sales in the Asia Pacific are set to top $6.38b - about double the figure of just six years ago.
But if the US and Europe are any indicator, the boom has a lot more life in it in Asia.
The US market is worth about $40b annually and Europe is not far behind at $35b according to Organic Federation of Australia director Simone Tully, a beef producer from Yetman on the NSW-Queensland border.
Both markets are also the leading export destinations for Australian organic agricultural lines, followed by Singapore/Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Organic beef exports alone are now worth about $106 million a year and growing at 10pc.
"China's yet to rate in our top five export destinations, despite the level of attention Australian organic and clean, green produce is getting in the Chinese marketplace," Ms Tully told a forum at this week's Beef Australia 2015 in Rockhampton.
"You can imagine the sort of export activity we could be seeing in the next 10 years when China starts to follow the US and Europe - we haven't scratched the surface yet."
Yet even without the prospect of more overseas demand being added to the equation, the domestic market was also maturing rapidly among mainstream retailers who currently sold about about $165m of organic meat lines each year.
Coles, Woolworths and IGA supermarket chains were recording between 18 and 30pc year-on-year growth in their organic categories and keenly seeking more products while also "mentoring" emerging suppliers to help fill and expand their range.
"Australia is actually importing about $300m in organic food each year because we haven't got the scale to meet year-around food processing demand," Ms Tully said.
Imports ranged from organic tomatoes and baked beans from Italy to balsamic vinegar and food product ingredients.
"We badly need suppliers who can provide sufficient background ingredients to make it worthwhile for manufacturers to have big enough production runs to service the market," she said.
"The northern hemisphere experience has shown more consumers will buy more and more organic product if it's consistently on the shelves and available in a range of product categories."
Meat is Australia's most popular organic line, followed by processed foods such as dairy-based formula powders and canned foods, then dairy products, wine and the diverse horticulture segment.
Outback organic
Ms Tully's enthusiasm for organic food production was sparked during a two-year working holiday in the US followed by a move into organic beef production with her husband Shane at Cunnamulla in western Queensland in 1996.
The two teamed up with other channel country producers in Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and Far West NSW to start their own outback grassfed organic brand.
They now run a certified organic herd of up to 1000 Angus, Santa Gertrudis and Charolais-cross cattle on bluegrass country at "Lisgar" in northern NSW and are partners in the export business Australian Organic Meats (AOM) with Central West NSW lamb and beef producers Matt and Julie O'Leary, near Dunedoo.
With markets established in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, the four-year-old AOM business is recording 50pc annual growth.
The organic market is very fragmented and needs a lot more experience in many areas, but it really is driving profits back to farmers," Ms Tully said.
AOM is about to release research it supported showing organic beef producers were consistently making better gross returns than conventional producers in the same district, regardless of some big variations in organic production costs.