For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Genetic Engineering page and our Millions Against Monsanto page.

US retail sales of non-GMO foods and beverages are projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.9% in the next five years, and could represent 30% of the market with a value of $264bn in 2017, predicts Packaged Facts.

However, should GMO become mandatory, non-GMO sales could account for up to 40% of the market by 2017, according to
Non-GMO Foods: U.S. Market Perspective, which predicts that demand for organic and natural foods will drive much of the growth.

While it is difficult to be precise about the size of the non-GMO market, the Packaged Facts definition includes:

Organic foods; some natural foods (it acknowledges that many foods marketed as ‘natural’ contain GMOs and has based its estimates on prior research into the natural foods market); and foods that are not marketed as organic, natural or non-GMO, but are (probably) non-GMO because they do not contain ingredients from GM crops, or meat/eggs/milk from animals fed GM feed.

Consumers most concerned about GMO’s in food are mothers of young children in their mid-30s living in urban middle class households

But which consumers are buying in the non-GMO message?

According to a national survey of 2000 US adults conducted by Packaged Facts in June 2013, consumers most concerned about GMOs in food are mothers in their mid-30s with young children that live in urban middle class households.

Meanwhile, Urban dwellers in general are more likely to buy groceries with non-GMO labels than suburbanites, who are in turn more likely to buy them than rural citizens, says Packaged Facts.