Rising consumer demand, increasing interest by retailers, and government strategies are helping to drive the global organic market, where food retail sales toppped €18.7 million last year on annual growth of 8 per cent in Europe and 12 per cent in the US.
But while the market is experiencing strong demand, seed varieties for organic production often perform poorly under the low-input conditions of organic agriculture, resulting in low yields, and in turn higher food prices.
New rules which came into force in the EU last year obliging the industry to use organically produced seed in organic production have deepened the problem.
As a result, the €5.3 billion seed industry - which offers only a very limited range of seed varieties suitable for organic production - is facing pressure from the food chain to improve the selection.
"There is a fair amount of research and investment by seed companies into the sector," a spokesperson at the industry body, the European Seed Association, told FoodNavigator.com, at the same time stressing that the organic sector occupied but 2 per cent of the arable land in Europe.
"There is minimum production and the industry suffers from high-cost schemes," he added.
Despite the small size of the organic industry compared to conventional food, the First World Conference on Organic Seed taking place in Rome this week has rallied much political support. Critics view this as the appeal of co-existence - the ongoing debate on conventional, genetically modified, and organic crops currently underway at a national government and European level.
The 300 odd participants will discuss the relationship between GMOs and organic production, gene flow, liability, and the coexistence between the two farming systems at the Rome event, jointly organised by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the umbrella organisation for the organic movement, the International Seed Federation (ISF), a non-profit body representing commercial plant breeders, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.