A report looking at the European Union's organic sector from 2000 to 2008 found the total amount of land farmed organically increased from 4.3m ha to 7.6m ha.
The figure means organic farming accounts for 4.3% of agricultural land across the EU's 27 member states.
According to the report, Spain has the highest amount of organic farmland, with 1.13m ha in organic production.
The UK is fourth-highest, with 0.72m ha farmed without pesticides or fertilisers.
Austria has the highest proportion of its agricultural land in organic production, with 15.5% of its farmland registered as organic.
The EC's report says there were 197,000 organic farmers in 2008, though the "fragility of the sector" meant figures varied widely depending on when the organic market was doing well.
While the UK organic market is identified as one of the largest EU markets, it says it suffered during the recession, with sales falling by 13.6% in 2009.
Of the organic produce produced by the EU, cereals account for 18.3% of organic farmland, with 1.2m ha grown in 2007.
Organic vegetable production accounted for 90,000 ha (1.4%) of organic production, while there were 2.4m head of organic cattle.
The UK was one of the biggest producers of organic sheep, alongside Italy, with 850,000 head each - 52% of the EU's organic herd.
Richard Jacobs, chief executive of organic certifier Organic Farmers and Growers, said the organic market had changed considerably in the years after those covered in the report because of the recession.
"The report paints a very rosy picture, though since 2008 we, as a control body, have seen a plateau with regard to numbers of operators registering," he said.
"What we do know is that the same has not happened in all EU countries and we have seen a rise in imports to the UK, which just emphasises that there is a market for organic food in this country that UK farmers are failing to fill.
"That means opportunities for many if they are sharp enough to take them."
No comments:
Post a Comment