Total sales of organic increased by 7.1 per cent in 2016 while non-organic sales continued to decline. Organic represents around 1.5 per cent of the total UK food and drink market, the report said.

Clare McDermott, Business Development Director at Soil Association Certification said: "It’s a positive time for organic as it ticks lots of boxes for consumers. Organic is extremely relevant for trends towards eating better food, knowing where your food comes from, avoiding pesticides or antibiotics and ‘free from’ diets.

"Increasingly, we’re seeing consumers choose organic as a shortcut to a healthy lifestyle and this will continue. Despite uncertainty around Brexit for us all, it brings lots of opportunities too – particularly for export for British organic and more product innovation."

More consumers are seeking organic – confirmed by recent research from England Marketing revealing 39 per cent of shoppers buy organic food on a weekly basis. 80 per cent of all consumers said that they have some knowledge about organic food.

Supermarkets account for 69 per cent of total sales and shoppers are also ordering more organic products online where there’s a wider range of innovative options. Jeff Hodgson from Tesco said: “The Organic market is in strong growth which is predicted to continue this year. Organic food is becoming more important to more customers as we see new customers entering the market and existing organic shoppers increasing the size of their organic basket.”