Organic Farming in the European Union – overview, policies and perspectives

The growth of organic farming in the European Union and the reasons for supporting organic farming are examined in the context of policy support for organic farming under EC Reg. 2078/92 (the agri-environment programme) and the structural measures (including the development by some countries of integrated action plans combining these measures). The potential for the future expansion of organic farming and the pre-conditions necessary for this to happen are considered in the context of the Agenda 2000 commodity measures and the Rural Development Regulation

Public Support for the Development of Organic Farming in Europe

The growth of organic farming in the European Union and the reasons for supporting organic farming are examined in the context of policy support for organic farming under EC Reg. 2078/92 (the agri-environment programme) and the structural measures (including the development by some countries of integrated action plans combining these measures). The potential for the future expansion of organic farming and the pre-conditions necessary for this to happen are considered in the context of the Agenda 2000 commodity measures and the Rural Development Regulation

Organic Farming in Europe - Growth, Policy Support and Future Potential

Organic farming is increasingly recognised, by consumers, farmers, environmentalists and policy-makers, as one of a number of possible models for environmental, social and financial sustainability in agriculture. Recent years have seen very rapid growth in the sector. In 1985, certified and policy-supported organic production accounted for just 100,000 ha on 6,300 holdings in the EU, or less than 0.1% of the total utilisable agricultural area (UAA). By the end of 1998, this had increased to more than 2.8 million ha on 113,000 holdings, nearly 2.1% of total UAA, a 30-fold increase in 13 years (Foster and Lampkin, 1999). This paper discusses factors influencing the growth of organic farming in the EU, including supporting policy measures, and the potential for widespread conversion

Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2009/10 (OF 0373)

This report presents results of research on the financial performance of organic farms in 2008/09 and 2009/10 financial years. Carried out for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), this research continues project OF0373 and builds on previous work on the economics of organic farming carried out at Aberystwyth University (Projects OF0190, covering 1995/96 to 1998/99 and OF0189, covering 1999/00 to 2004/05)1. This report utilises data collected through the Farm Business Survey in England and Wales. An analysis of the FBS/Defra Data Archive for 2009/10 found a total of 241 businesses with some organic land, and of these holdings, 189 met the criterion for inclusion within this study by having greater than 70% fully organic certified land. In total, data from 185 organic farms were suitable for inclusion in the analysis. The organic holdings were matched with clusters containing a total of 785 comparable conventional holdings. It was not possible to identify comparable conventional businesses for four organic farms, though the gross margin results from one of these businesses could be utilised. Comparable conventional farms (CCF) were clustered to each organic farm to ensure that the comparison between farming types is based on a similar resource base e.g. similar land area, farm type, region and other factors. This enabled each organic farm to be matched to the average for a conventional farm cluster that comprised data from at least three comparable conventional holdings. The full sample analysis utilised data from 185 organic farms and provides the best comparison of organic and comparable conventional farm income data in 2009/10 (2008/09 data is provided for a non-identical comparison). The profitability (Farm Business Income) of most organic farm types was higher than that of comparable conventional farms. Organic lowland dairy and cropping farm types were considerably more profitable than their conventional comparisons, however, the organic LFA dairy and horticulture (not shown) farm types did not perform as well as conventional systems, mainly as a result of high feed and other livestock costs in LFA dairying and the specialisation/intensity of the comparable conventional horticulture systems, but both farm types had small organic samples which may also have affected the results. Data were also analysed using identical samples and gross margins

Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2003/04 (OF0189)

This report is the third from a series of four economic reports on organic farm incomes from 2001/02 through to 2004/05. The work was carried out by Organic Research Group at the Institute of Rural Sciences, UWA on the economic performance of organic farms in 2003/04 on behalf of DEFRA Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A fundamental aim of this work is to assess the financial performance of organic farms differentiated by farm type, in order to inform DEFRA policy-making with respect to economics of organic farming, and to provide a basis for assessments by farmers, advisers and other interested parties of the farm-level implications of conversion to and continued organic farming. This research area builds on previous economics work on organic farming carried out by Institute of Rural Sciences, UWA (Project OF0190, covering 1995/96 to 1998/99). Here, time series data are shown using an identical farm analysis technique for the 2002/03 and 2003/04 financial years covering the economic performance of seven organic farm types including cropping, horticulture, lowland and LFA dairy, lowland and LFA cattle and sheep and mixed farming systems. The identical farm samples comprise farms that are present in both 2002/03 and 2003/04. The total number of organic farms for 2003/04, also referred to as the full farm sample data, is shown alongside the identical datasets for 2003/04. Summarised and detailed financial input, output, income, returns to labour and capital, liabilities and assets and some physical performance measures are presented based on current Farm Business Survey (FBS) data collection and collation guidelines. The full samples of organic farms per robust farm type are sufficiently large to give some reasonable level of confidence in the data; however, it should be noted that the organic farm samples are not statistically representative of their type, although they can be seen as a reasonable indication of farm income levels for comparable organic and conventional farms. Smaller identical farm samples should be treated more cautiously as there is a possibility for outliers (especially larger farms) to have some influence on the average results. An additional element of this work is the inclusion of comparable conventional farm data for the farm types shown. Each organic farm within this study was matched with an appropriate cluster of conventional farms based on the resource endowment identifiers/variables of individual organic farms. Broadly speaking, the identifiers/variables included farm type, FBS region, Less Favoured Area (LFA) status, utilisable agricultural area (UAA), milk quota holding (where applicable) and farm business size. The cluster farm data were averaged for each farm type to derive the comparable conventional farm (CCF) data based on the organic farms from the identical and full farm samples. Overall, the identical sample of organic farms showed a similar or higher level of net farm income for all farm types in 2003/04 than in 2002/03. On comparing the organic data with the comparable conventional data, the greatest differences in performance were seen in the LFA dairy and lowland cattle and sheep farm types where organic farms performed significantly better in 2003/04. LFA cattle and sheep farm types performed similarly to the comparable conventional farm samples. The full sample datasets compared similarly to the identical datasets for both organic and conventional farms in 2002/03. Gross margin data are presented for organic dairy herds on a herd size and top five performing herd basis. Cattle and sheep gross margins are shown for lowland and LFA farm types. Crops shown include winter and spring wheat, triticale, spring barley, spring and winter oats, beans, ware potatoes, sugar beet, leeks, early potatoes, winter broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage crops. Where applicable, 2002/03 gross margin data are shown alongside the 2003/04 data. Benchmarking data are shown for milk, suckler store, finishing beef and lamb production enterprises

Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2002/03

Results from research work carried out for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) by the Organic Research Group at the Institute of Rural Sciences, UWA on the economic performance of organic farms in 2002/03 are presented in this report. This report is the second from the OF0189 series of three economic reports on organic farm incomes from 2001/02 through to 2003/04. A fundamental aim of this work is to assess the financial performance of organic farms differentiated by farm type, in order to inform DEFRA policy-making with respect to economics of organic farming, and to provide a basis for assessments by farmers, advisers and other interested parties of the farm-level implications of conversion to and continued organic farming. This research area builds on previous economics work on organic farming carried out by Institute of Rural Sciences, UWA (Project OF0190, covering 1995/962 to 1998/99). Here, time series data is shown using an identical farm analysis technique for the 2001/02 and 2002/03 financial years covering the economic performance of seven organic farm types including cropping, horticulture, lowland and LFA dairy, lowland and LFA cattle and sheep and mixed farming systems. The identical farm samples comprise farms that are present in both 2001/02 and 2002/03. The total number of organic farms for 2002/03, also referred to as the full farm sample data, is shown alongside the identical datasets for 2002/03. Summarised and detailed financial input, output, income, returns to labour and capital, liabilities and assets and some physical performance measures are presented based on current Farm Business Survey data collection and collation guidelines. The full samples of organic farms per robust farm type are sufficiently large to give some reasonable level of confidence in the data; however, it should be noted that the organic farm samples are not statistically representative of their type, although they can be seen as a reasonable indication of farm income levels between organic and conventional data. Smaller identical farm samples should be treated more cautiously as there is a possibility for outliers (especially larger farms) to have some influence on the average results. An additional element of this work is the inclusion of comparable conventional farm data for the farm types shown. Each organic farm within this study was matched with an appropriate cluster of conventional farms based on the resource endowment identifiers/variables of individual organic farms. Broadly speaking, the identifiers/variables included farm type, FBS region, LFA status, utilisable agricultural area, milk quota holding (where applicable) and farm business size. The cluster farm data was averaged for each farm type to derive the comparable conventional farm (CCF) data based on the organic farms from the identical and full farm samples. Overall, the identical sample of organic farms showed a similar or higher level of net farm income for all farm types in 2002/03 than in 2001/02 with the exception of the identical sample of cropping farms, which decreased. On comparing the organic data with the comparable conventional data, the greatest differences in performance were seen in the lowland dairy and lowland cattle and sheep farm types where organic farms performed significantly better in 2002/03. Horticultural and LFA cattle and sheep farm types performed similarly to the comparable conventional farm samples. The organic mixed identical farm sample achieved lower net farm incomes than the conventional farm sample, but the full sample of mixed organic farms in 2002/03 showed a higher net farm income than the conventional farm sample. Gross margin data is presented for organic dairy herds on a herd size and top five performing herd basis. Cattle and sheep gross margins are shown for lowland and LFA farm types in addition to breeding pig and layer gross margins. Crops shown include winter and spring wheat, spring barley, spring and winter oats, triticale, beans, ware potatoes, sugar beet and leek crops. Where applicable, 2001/02 gross margin data is shown alongside the 2002/03 data. Benchmarking data is shown for milk, beef and lamb production enterprises

Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2005/06 (OF 0373)

Results from research work carried out for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) by the Organic Research Group at the Institute of Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University on the economic performance of organic farms in 2005/06 are presented in this report. The main aim of this work is to assess the financial performance of organic farms differentiated by farm type, in order to inform Defra policy-making with respect to economics of organic farming, and to provide a basis for assessments by farmers, advisers and other interested parties of the farm-level implications of conversion to and continued organic farming. This research builds on previous work on the economics of organic farming carried out by the Institute of Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University (Projects OF0190, covering 1995/96 to 1998/99 and OF0189, covering 1999/00 to 2004/05). In this report, time series financial data are shown for an identical farm sample for the 2004/05 and 2005/06 financial years, covering seven organic farm types including cropping, horticulture, lowland and LFA dairy, lowland and LFA cattle and sheep and mixed farming systems. The identical farm samples comprise farms that are present in both 2004/05 and 2005/06. The total number of organic farms for 2005/06, also referred to as the full farm sample data, is shown alongside the identical datasets. Summarised and detailed financial input, output, income, returns to labour and capital, liabilities and assets and some physical performance measures are presented based on current Farm Business Survey (FBS) data collection and collation guidelines1. The full samples of organic farms per robust farm type are sufficiently large to give some reasonable level of confidence in the data; however, it should be noted that the organic farm samples are not statistically representative of their type, although the results can be seen as a reasonable indication of farm income levels for comparable organic and conventional farms. Smaller identical farm samples should be treated more cautiously as there is a possibility for outliers (especially larger farms) to have some influence on he average results. An additional element of this work is the inclusion of comparable conventional farm data (obtained from the main FBS sample) for the farm types shown. Each organic farm within this study was matched with an appropriate cluster of conventional farms based on the resource endowment indicators for individual organic farms. Broadly speaking, the indicators included farm type, FBS region, Less Favoured Area (LFA) status, utilisable agricultural area (UAA), milk quota holding (where applicable) and farm business size. The cluster farm data were averaged for each farm type to derive the comparable conventional farm (CCF) data based on the organic farms from the identical and full farm samples. Overall, the identical samples of organic farms showed similar or lower levels of net farm incomes for all farm types in 2005/06 than in 2004/05, with the exception of cropping farms and arable farms with field vegetables, which increased over the period. Although market conditions were starting to improve for many enterprises during this period, cost increases cancelled out many of the gains. However, compared with similar conventional farms, organic farms performed as well or better on average, and bstantially better for the cropping and mixed farm types

Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2007/08 (OF 0373)

This report presents result of research on the financial performance of organic farms in 2006/07 and 2007/08, carried out for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). This research builds on previous work on the economics of organic farming carried out at Aberystwyth University (Projects OF0190, covering 1995/96 to 1998/99 and OF0189, covering 1999/00 to 2004/05)1. Overall, identicla samples examined over a two year period 2006/07 to 2007/08 show that most organic sectors achieved higher net farm incomes in 2007/08 LFA cattle and sheep farm Net Farm Income (NFI) had the greatest increase,gaining by 46%, with strong gains in cropping and dairying. Organic mixed farming was the only sector to see reduced profitability, the identical sample falling back by 10%, while lowland cattle and sheep farming NFI increased by only 10%. When compared with comparable conventional farms, all organic farming sectors except poultry were above conventional profitability levels in 2007/08

FAIR3-CT96-1794 Organic and in-conversion land area, holdings, livestock and crop production in Europe

The objective of this report is to provide an up-to-date overview of the organic and inconversion land area, number of holdings, livestock and crop production in all EU member states plus the Czech Republic, Norway and Switzerland from 1993 to 1998. The report traces the growth and development of organic farming in general and as part of policy measures to support organic farming and updates the data presented in Foster and Lampkin (1999). This report is one of several aiming to assess ex post the impact of EU and other policy measures on organic farming as part of the project ”Effects of the CAP Reform and possible further developments on organic farming in the EU” (FAIR 3-CT96 1794). The general objective of the project is to provide an assessment of the impact of the 1992 CAP Reform on organic farming and thus contribute to a better understanding of the effects that current EU policies have on this sub-sector. 1993 was chosen as the starting point from which to present the data as it represents the year in which most EU member states implemented Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/91 defining organic crop production in statutory terms. It was also the first year in which the CAP Reform of 1992 began to have an impact on organic farming, in particular through support under the agri-environment programme (Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92)

Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2006/07 (OF 0373)

In the report, we present results of research on the financial performance of organic farms in 2006/07 carried out for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The main aim of this work is to assess the financial performance of organic farms differentiated by farm type, in order to inform Defra policy-making with respect to economics of organic farming, and to provide a basis for assessments by farmers, advisers and other interested parties of the farm-level implications of conversion to and continued organic farming. This research builds on previous work on the economics of organic farming carried out at Aberystwyth University (Projects OF0190, covering 1995/96 to 1998/99 and OF0189, covering 1999/00 to 2004/05). In this report, financial data are shown for the 2005/06 and 2006/07 financial years, including between year comparisons and comparisons with similar conventional farms. For this report only, it has not been possible to produce identical samples for all farm types due to the change in data collection approach between 2005/06 and 2006/07. Identical sample comparisons have only been possible for lowland dairy and lowland and LFA cattle and sheep systems. The identical farm samples comprise farms that are present in both the 2005/06 and 2006/07 datasets. The total number of organic farms for 2006/07, also referred to as the full farm sample data, is shown alongside the identical datasets. In the other cases, data for the full samples in 2005/06 and 2006/07 are presented, but comparisons should be treated with caution due to changes in sample composition. Summarised and detailed financial input, output, income, returns to labour and capital, liabilities and assets and some physical performance measures are presented based on current Farm Business Survey (FBS) data collection and collation guidelines. The full samples of organic farms per robust farm type are sufficiently large to give some reasonable level of confidence in the data although it should be noted that the organic farm samples are not statistically representative of their type. However, the results can be seen as a reasonable indication of farm income levels for comparable organic and conventional farms. Smaller farm samples should be treated more cautiously as there is a possibility for outliers (especially larger farms) to have a significant influence on the average results. An additional element of this work is the inclusion of comparable conventional farm data (obtained from the main FBS sample) for the farm types shown. Each organic farm within this study was matched with an appropriate cluster of conventional farms based on the resource endowment indicators for individual organic farms. The indicators included farm type, FBS region, Less Favoured Area (LFA) status, utilisable agricultural area (UAA), milk quota held (where applicable) and farm business size. The cluster farm data were averaged for each farm type to derive the comparable conventional farm (CCF) data based on the organic farms from the identical and full farm samples. The identical samples of organic farms showed a much higher level of net farm incomes for lowland dairy and lowland cattle and sheep in 2006/07 than in 2005/06, with LFA cattle and sheep showing a small decrease over the period. Overall, organic net farm incomes exceeded conventional in all sectors, with most sectors showing an organic NFI twice that of the comparative conventional NFI. Increased organic prices and only small cost increases have led to substantial increases in organic NFI, especially in the livestock sectors