ABSTRACT
The expansion of organic farming in the United Kingdom (UK) from the early 1990s has reflected the growing concern amongst the general public with the quality
of food. This has been fuelled by concerns about food safety, the welfare of farm animals, the sustainability of rural economies and the negative impacts of productivist agriculture on the environment (Lang et al., 2001). So foods that can be shown to have some measure of being ‘green’, ‘healthy’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ have become more attractive to certain consumers. This attraction also reflects growing
differentiation in the market place, whereby increasing numbers of consumers
associate themselves with the purchase of ‘green’ products, including organic foods (Bell and Valentine, 1997). Moreover, both producers and retailers have viewed the development of ‘green’, ‘quality’ and organic foods as an opportunity to add value to their products.
