EU organic area up 34% since 2012

The total organic area in the European Union (EU) was 13.4 million hectares in 2018, corresponding to 7.5% of the total utilised agricultural area. This represents an increase of 34% between 2012 and 2018. Among the EU Member States, the countries with the largest shares of organic area in 2018 were Austria (24.1% of total utilised agricultural area), Estonia (20.6%) and Sweden (20.3%), followed by Italy (15.2%), Czechia (14.8%), Latvia (14.5%), Finland (13.1%) and Slovenia (10.0%).

In the remaining EU Member States, the share of organic area was below 10 %, with the lowest proportions observed in Malta (0.4%), Romania (2.4%), Bulgaria, Ireland and the United Kingdom (each with 2.6%).

Note:  

The total organic area is the sum of the “area under conversion” and the “certified area”. Before an area can be certified as “organic”, it must undergo a conversion process, which may take 2-3 years depending on the crop.

For more information

More statistics on organic area, including the area under conversion, organic production and the number of fully organic farms can be found in the Statistics Explained article Organic farming statistics.

O artigo foi publicado originalmente em Eurostat.