We hear from many Canadian consumers wondering why organic food is more expensive, and how they can justify adding it to their shopping cart. Along with our partners at Organic BC, Manitoba Organic Alliance, the Organic Council of Ontario, and Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia, we took a look at the cost of organic and conventional food staples across the country to help shed some light on this important question.
Read on to find out whether organic is always more expensive, and when it is, why that might be!
First things first: Is organic always more expensive?

In the winter of 2024, we collected costs of organic apples, cheese, oats, and potatoes in communities across the country. Where we could, we visited farmers’ markets, independent grocers, and chain grocery stores to find the lowest possible price.
Here is what we found:
West Coast (Prices collected in British Columbia)
Item | Lowest Price on Conventional | Lowest Price on Organic | Results |
Apples | $1.49+ / lb | $1.04+ / lb | Organic was LESS expensive by $0.45 |
Cheese | $1.33+ / 100 g | $3.99+ / 100 g | Conventional was less expensive by $2.66 |
Oats | $0.40+ / 100 g | $0.68+ / 100 g | Conventional was less expensive by $0.28 |
Potatoes | $0.80+ / lb | $1.09+ / lb | Conventional was less expensive by $0.29 |
Prairies (Prices collected in Manitoba)
Item | Lowest Price on Conventional | Lowest Price on Organic | Results |
Apples | $3.18+ / lb | $2.72+ / lb | Organic was LESS expensive by $0.46 |
Cheese | $1.00+ / 100g | $3.25+ / 100g | Conventional was less expensive by $2.25 |
Oats | $1.11+ / 100g | $0.94+ / 100g | Organic was LESS expensive by $0.17 |
Potatoes | $1.40+ / lb | $1.60+ / lb | Conventional was less expensive by $0.20 |
Central (Prices collected in Ontario)
Item | Lowest Price on Conventional | Lowest Price on Organic | Results |
Apples | $1.60+ / lb | $1.99+ / lb | Conventional was less expensive by $0.39 |
Cheese | $2.00+ / 100g | $3.50+ / 100g | Conventional was less expensive by $1.50 |
Oats | $0.30+ / 100g | $0.73+ / 100g | Conventional was less expensive by $0.43 |
Potatoes | $0.40+ / lb | $1.60+ / lb | Conventional was less expensive by $1.20 |
East Coast (Prices collected in Nova Scotia)
Item | Lowest Price on Conventional | Lowest Price on Organic | Results |
Apples | $1.32+ / lb | None found | We can’t make a comparison |
Cheese | $1.62+ / 100g | $3.50+ / 100g | Conventional was less expensive by $1.88 |
Oats | $0.35+ / 100g | $0.50+ / 100g | Conventional was less expensive by $0.15 |
Potatoes | $0.50+ / lb | $2.16 / lb | Conventional was less expensive by $1.66 |
What we learned:

Organic is not always more expensive: Our comparative cost analysis reveals that organic is not always more expensive, and in many cases is only marginally more expensive than its conventional counterparts.
Shopping local pays off: Lower prices were often found when shopping local – something that may come as a surprise.
When organic is more expensive, why might this be?
When organic is more expensive – there are some very good reasons why:
• Re-internalizing the True Costs of Food Production: The price of organic food ‘internalizes’ or includes the cost of things like protecting our climate, sequestering carbon, supporting biodiversity, and protecting our waters and soil. This cost shows up in organic food prices, rather than in future public expenses like mitigating pollution, dealing with climate crises, and public healthcare costs. In other words, if while shopping, we could see how much we pay in taxes for the hidden costs of our food system, organic prices may start to seem more worthwhile.1
• Supporting Our Communities: Organic farming supports local and rural economies. It creates employment opportunities, which often include fairer wages and working conditions. Conventional farmers and farm workers can be exposed to health risks due to the use of pesticides. The higher cost of organic food can mean supporting not only the local economy, but the health of our neighbours and our local water supplies, parks and ecosystems.
• Being Small But Mighty: Organic farms in Canada are, on average, approximately 300 acres smaller than the average Canadian farm2 3. Even though there are lots of benefits to growing in a smaller scale organic way, it can also mean less ability to benefit from economies of scale. Having a smaller farm – along with other beneficial practices that many organic farms employ, like growing a diversity of crops – can contribute to difficulties in accessing funding and crop insurance. This means many organic farms can face higher risks when it comes to things like extreme weather, which can impact prices.4
• Getting Their Hands Dirty: Labour costs on an organic farm may also be higher where specific crops require labour-intensive techniques such as hand weeding, crop rotation, and natural pest control methods.
• Keeping Synthetic Food Ingredients Out Of Your Grocery Basket: Like organic producers, organic food processors also follow standards when creating the food you see on store shelves. There are many ingredients they can’t include in their final product, including synthetic preservatives and additives, which are often less expensive than the organic alternative.4 Adding fewer synthetic ingredients like these is a benefit of organic, but it can also decrease the shelf life of organic products if a suitable alternative isn’t available, potentially resulting in increased costs to account for losses.4

• Higher Standards for Animal Welfare: When it comes to products like dairy, it’s important to keep in mind that the Canadian Organic Standards require organic livestock to live in conditions that accommodate their natural behaviour and health. For example, cows are given access to grazing pasture which must be free of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. There are strict limits on stocking density, which means animals on organic farms are given more space – this can mean larger barns and higher capital costs for fewer animals. They are fed a high forage diet of certified organic feed. All of these conditions produce high quality meat and dairy, but can also increase costs and prices.1
• Keeping Up With Organic Certification, Standards and Practices: To market their products as organic to consumers, producers must achieve organic certification. Like most food safety and traceability programs, organic certification comes with a cost. Especially for smaller and more diverse farms, this cost can make an impact on the producer’s budgets, and the cost of products when they reach the consumer.4 Organic farmers and producers also often invest in things like education and outside expertise to keep up with emerging practices that will help them grow in ways that support the benefits of organic – as well as research to learn more about their specific farming context or to fill in gaps in available data within the organic industry.4
• A Markup at the Retail Shelf: For more than 20 years, there has been an increasingly widening gap between retail prices and the price farmers receive for what they produce across the agriculture sector 5 6, and this includes organic. This means that extra money is going to retailers and not the farmer. We often hear from farmers that they are concerned with keeping prices accessible so good food is available for everyone. That’s why COG is working with our partners through the Canadian Organic Alliance to develop strategies for working with retailers to make organic food more accessible in grocery stores.
How can all of this impact your next shopping trip?
We only looked at a few products (at a time of year when not as many local organic products are available) and still found some organic products that were less expensive. We hope this encourages you to keep an eye out when you are shopping to find those organic items that are a no-brainer to add to your cart!
In some cases, the lowest cost option available – both organic and conventional – was from a local producer. For example, the less expensive oats we found in Manitoba were from Adagio Acres, a farm located north of Winnipeg. Lower transportation costs and farmers placing value on local food security can keep costs lower – shop local when you can!
Certain food categories have smaller price gaps – consider buying organic for some products like apples and oats.
When organic products do have a higher price tag, we encourage you to think about all of the benefits included in that price – as well as all of the hidden costs of conventionally produced products.
Want to learn even more about the benefits of organic? Please explore the other resources on our Organically Canadian Resource Hub to learn more!
Resources:
1 – https://www.ifoam.bio/news/true-cost-accounting-food-balancing-scale
2 – https://canada-organic.ca/en/what-we-do/data-research/production-data
3 – https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/96-325-x/2021001/article/00012-eng.htm
4 – https://organiccouncil.ca/9171/
5 – https://www.nfu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/NFU_BriefSubmission_AGRI_FoodPriceInflation.pdf
6 – https://www.nfu.ca/gap-continues-to-widen-between-food-prices-that-consumers-pay-retailers-and-prices-farmers-receive/