Business Venture Research: Local Foods/ Organic Foods

There is NO agency in Panama to certify that a Finca is Organic as there is in many other countries. You could do locally grown, but many "local" farmers use a LOT of pesticides and other chemicals. The cabbage growers actually spray the cabbages with "RAID" because there are so many bugs here. Potato and onion growers use lots of chemicals because they are very difficult to grow in Panama and that is the only way they can get enough yield to make growing them worthwhile. Buena Suerta!

Thank you for the reply Sunny, I am actually looking into getting my own suppliers from inside the country and look to people who do not use pesticides, though that may seem okay for the scale I am looking for.
Okay, so then there is no market for organic? people could care less for a label, certified, trusted, or not? and regardless of what amount of chemicals or hormones they use, does the concept of "local" draw any nationalistic sentiment or for the millennial generation, is there any pride or importance in it, making it a draw for them? I see that the government is trying to restrict imports of commercial food shipments, so that leads me to think that there would be less competition and grocers would need to take care of their produce to stay afloat.

There are some Expats that want Organic, most Panamanians (99.9%) would not pay the price for Organic. There is a guy by the name of Chris, that sells an "Organic" box delivered to your home in PC. Not doing great, selling some.  Your biggest market would be in PC, followed by Boquete. Boquete already has a couple of "Finca's" run by Expats, that sell organic, Ron & Kim Miller have the largest, you should talk to them. I have been test marketing a line of Panama Maps and Field Guides, Expats love them, Panamanians will not pay the price for a quality product. I was just in Boquete this past weekend at the Sunday Flea Market and the Tuesday Market in the BCP. Sold one guide to a Panamanian, sold many maps and guides to Expats. Check out www.mapsofcentralamerica.com
Not trying to rain on your parade, just being realistic. If you would like to talk directly, check out my LinkedIn profile and email me: pa.linkedin.com/in/pedasipundit
In the meantime, here is Ron & Kim Millers info.
Finca Santa Marta S.A.
Ron y Kim Miller
[email protected]
+507 6459-5218
Via San Andrés
Santa Marta, CH PA

Okay, I appreciate the honesty and the information on this topic of organic. Though I'd like to keep the conversation public so as to allow for additional input on the subject. I do see that 60% of supermarket sales do account for sales of
"premium" products, which is usually synonymous to some people with organic. Otherwise, is the expat community that healthy to support such sales,  do the% 0.01 buy so much , or both?
Otherwise, disregarding the price and meme labels like "organic" or "fresh" (which when market further develops, price will adjust just as in similar niches like kosher), how strongly do Panamanians feel about local or MiP produce? I understand the government is moving against commercial imports of food and that the expat community could go either way, depending on the level of cultural assimilation they commit to.
Once again,
Thank you for your invaluable input,
Kalu Yala