Designing organic milk

Kim Severson’s article on organic milk production and sales answered a few questions I had, namely

It’s the low supply, not the production costs, that are keeping the price high. I bet some qualitative research could influence this growth curve. For example, suppose it’s more educated parents who buy organic milk for their kids. Increase organic milk supplies to their geographic areas first and use the profits to increase production elsewhere.

There’s still so much confusion over the “organic” labeling, due to industry/government disagreements. Designers could do an end run and solve this through, for example, smart package design to educate the consumer, e.g.

• Pasture fed
• No artificial growth hormones
• Local cows
• Antibiotics for sick animals

Milk leads organic food sales because emotion plays a large role in this purchase, particularly for parents of babies. Again, this is another area that qualitative research can get the preferred organic products in people’s hands.