Expanding the already growing organic food market was a topic of a presentation during the 5th Annual Iowa Organic Conference on Monday.

Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, said the organic food industry is the second-largest-growing faction of grocery sales, after ethnic foods.

“It’s 25 percent of the grocery industry’s growth,” she said.

DiMatteo, whose speech was the keynote of the conference, presented Monday in the Scheman Building.

She said organic food is a growing trend in the United States, but it is being greatly outpaced in terms of exports by countries such as China.

“We have got to turn that around,” she said.

In 1995, DiMatteo said organic food was only a minor part of China’s economy, at $300,000. By 2003, that number had risen to $142 million.

She said one of the ways to get more people interested in buying organic products is by making them more available to the general public. Right now, access to organic foods is much less in the South, and not enough people are going out of their way to seek out the products.

“If it’s not in supermarkets, it’s not going to be sold. It’s not going to bring them in,” she said.

One of the concerns discussed at the presentation is that organic foods have to compete with traditional retail channels. Despite several concerns that these products are expensive, DiMatteo said consumers aren’t just members of the upper-income level. People of every race, background and income level can afford these products, she said.

“Organic is completely integrated with the shopper at every level,” she said.

Rajeev Arora, associate professor of horticulture, said organic food is not his area of expertise, but he attended the presentation because of his personal interest in the subject.

He said he was concerned that not everyone would be able to benefit from eating organic products because they are expensive.

“It’s a healthy way to live life, but because of its pricing structure, it is going to be benefiting only people who can afford it,” Arora said.

He said people need to be made more aware of the advantages of organic food.

“I think it is one of those things that you have to convince the consumers is good for you,” Arora said. “Maybe that effort has not been there to the point where it can make a difference.”

Sarah Carlson, graduate student in agronomy, said the organic food industry is different in Iowa than it is in other parts of the country. Iowa farmers take a more local approach to organic farming than farmers in California, for instance.

“Here in Iowa, I see a lot of difference with people trying to eat more locally,” she said. “I think organic right now is a stepping stone toward what true sustainable agriculture could be.”

Carlson also said organic farmers can qualify for some of the same subsidies as normal farmers, but there are no subsidy programs set up specifically for organic farmers.

Stacey Brown, produce manager at Wheatsfield Grocery, 413 Douglas Ave., said the growing interest in organic food may be because people are realizing it is healthier for them.

“People think that organic food is maybe more healthy because of the lesser amounts of pesticides,” she said. “And I think the other big reason is maybe environmental.”