In the beginning the organic movement struggled to shed its image of wonky carrots sold by hippies with dirty cuffs and sandals. Now it has the opposite problem: associated with high-priced jars of chutney and biscuits sold by slick marketing men to the dinner party classes.

Now the UK's biggest organic body, the Soil Association, is confronting its posh image problem with a special session at its annual conference this week devoted to debating "organic elitism".

"Organic is now seen as expensive and elitist," says the programme. "Have we been complicit in this positioning and how can it be challenged?"



It is easy to see why charges of elitism have been thrown at an association that was co-founded by Lady Balfour (niece of the former prime minister, Arthur Balfour), has the Prince of Wales as a long-standing current patron, and celebrity gardener and Cambridge graduate Monty Don as its new president.

Such a background is also inherently likely in an organisation founded on new ideas, says Patrick Holden, the Soil Association's director. "The early adopters of any new approach to something tend to be people who are not only better educated but better off, because they can afford to try something that many not be economically viable," said Holden in an interview with the Guardian.

Holden rejects the idea that organic farming and food should be elitist, however. "Right from the outset we challenged the orthodoxy of agricultural practices; it [the association] was founded on the belief everything is connected: soil and food and plants and animals and people and the environment."

"The paradox is there's this view that organic is elitist, it's expensive, it's a lifestyle choice for people who can afford it. As far as I'm concerned it's not elitist to believe everyone should have the right to high-quality, nutritious food from sustainable farming systems. What's elitist is that a handful of corporations have got a vice-like grip on the farming systems and food."

Holden, however, admits that at times organic campaigners have come across as "hair shirt and preachy", "ghettoised" and even "aggressive". "We were perhaps so used to being marginalised we forgot our first responsibility was to engage with the public, with the media," said Holden. "There must have been occasions in the past years where we have gone over the line, and we must apologise for it."

After a surge in popularity in the 1990s, organic food has become a common feature of almost all supermarkets and food retailers in Britain, organic shops and cafes have thrived, and it is now possible to buy organic snacks at even the most unlikely venues, like motor racing tracks.

But although one survey found half of shoppers in a major supermarket chain put at least one organic product in their basket, total organic sales have remained only a stubbornly small niche of Britain's gargantuan annual shopping bill.

Doubts about claims that organic products were tastier and healthier have also increased in recent years. In 2007, David Miliband upset the organic food industry while he was environment secretary by saying that there was no "conclusive evidence" about the health benefits of organic food and that buying it was "a lifestyle choice". And last year the recession made consumers more wary of paying higher prices, leading to a 14% drop in sales.

Holden believes there are several issues underpinning the image of elitism and distrust: organic produce is more expensive to produce because farmers cannot rely on chemicals to fertilise their land and kill pests, and the Soil Association's founding mission to improve the sustainability of the environment has become confused with their day-to-day business of certifying 80% of the UK's organic produce.

Last year a Food Standards Agency study reported that there were "no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food." Although the Soil Association never actively promoted such claims, the organisation's own polling showed an "overwhelming majority" of organic shoppers were first motivated by health.

As evidence that their approach is justified, Holden cites the example of the association rejecting the use of animals in feed for cattle and sheep long before the outcry against such practices during the BSE and "mad cow disease" disaster. "A lot of the decisions we have made over the years have been based on observation, intuition, hypothesis," he said. "Later the science has come along to show our intuition or whatever have been validated by the science."

The conference event is just one of several moves to counter the elitist image of organic ideals: the association is also expanding a scheme to bring freshly prepared, local and organic produce into school dinners, has set up organic skills courses on farms across the country, and is working with communities including Swindon, Bristol and all of Wales to develop "food plans" to make their food supply more "self-sufficient".

Holden also recognises public support is the only way to convince politicians to take the organic movement seriously as part of the current national debate about food security in the face of rising demands for food and water, diminishing oil reserves and climate change. "We're standing in the face of the biggest question that's ever concerned humanity," added Holden, "and we have common cause with every other industry and human."

Organic v Supermarket



Chicken

Waitrose organic chicken

£6.39/kg

Waitrose organic chickens are free to roam in organic pastures and fed an organic cereal-based diet.

Essential Waitrose British chicken

£3.06/kg

Vegetables

Abel & Cole organic broccoli

£3.64/kg

During the British season much of Abel & Cole's broccoli is grown by Tony Norman at his award winning Arrow Organics Farm in Pembridge, Herefordshire.

Sainsbury's broccoli

£1.98/kg

Milk

Tesco organic semi-skimmed milk

£0.91/litre

Organic milk comes from cows which are only fed organic cereals and graze on land free from artificial fertilisers and pesticides.

Tesco semi- skimmed milk

£0.76/litre

Biscuits

Duchy Originals organic highland all butter shortbread (150g)

£1.33/100g

Made from organic wheat flour harvested from the Home Farm at Highgrove, raw and unprocessed sugar, organic British butter and sea salt

Walkers pure butter shortbread (250g)

£0.80/100g

CrispsÈ

Thin White Maize Tortilla Chips, Garcia (150g)

£1.63/100g

Made from organic white maize. Any corn that doesn't end up in finished products is donated to cattle farmers or pet food manufacturers.

Doritos Cool Original 130g

£0.76/100g

Holly Bentley