Organic agriculture has developed rapidly worldwide during the last  few years and is now practised in almost all countries of the world. Its share of agricultural land and farms continues to grow. The sixth edition of an annual study that collects worldwide statistics has just been published

Geier, Bernward

Willer, Helga

Yussefi, Minou

English

Organic Eprints

12       IFOAM • ECOLOGY AND FARMING • January – April 2004￿It￿s only a matter of timebefore organic wines will bethe norm￿ David Bruer.Organic agricultureworldwideStill on the rise in 2004Organic agriculture has developed rapidly worldwide during the lastfew years and is now practised in almost all countries of the world. Itsshare of agricultural land and farms continues to grow. The sixthedition of an annual study that collects worldwide statistics has justbeen published. Minou Yussefi, Helga Willer and Bernward Geierreport on its findings.Global MonitorThe Foundation Ecology & Agri-culture (known as SOEL) has col-lected data about organic farmingworldwide every year since 1999 and thenewest figures are regularly presented atBioFach. Since the publication of the 2003results the Research Institute of OrganicAgriculture (known as FiBL) and IFOAMhave collaborated in the project. Accord-ing to this survey, certified organic farm-ing is practised in approximately a hun-dred countries of the world. Furthermore,it can reasonably be assumed thatuncertified organic farming is practisedin even more countries.More than 24 million hectares are cur-rently managed organically worldwide.The market for organic products is alsogrowing, not only in Europe and NorthAmerica (which are the major markets)but also in many other countries, includ-ing several developing countries. Cur-rently, the countries with the greatest or-ganic areas are Australia (10 million hec-tares), Argentina (almost 3 million hec-tares) and Italy (almost 1.2 million hec-tares), see table below.  In total, Oceaniaholds 42% of the world’s organic land,followed by Latin America (24%) andEurope (23%). As most of the organic landarea in Australia and Argentina is exten-sive grazing land, the global area dedi-cated to organic arable cropping is prob-ably less than half. The proportion of or-ganically compared to conventionally-managed land, however, is highest in Eu-rope. In addition, Europe has the greatesttotal number of organic farms (see table).The continued increase in the organicland area is not just due to the ever greaterinterest in organic farming, but also a re-sult of improved access to information anddata collection each time the study is up-dated.  This sixth edition of the study in-cludes figures for the area of certified‘wild harvested plants’, which adds atleast another 10.7 million hectares, ac-cording to various certification bodies.The global market for organic foodand drink was valued at US$23 billion in2002. Although production of organiccrops is increasing across the globe, salesare concentrated in the industrialised partsof the world. North America and WesternEurope comprise the bulk of global rev-enues, though consumer interest is grow-ing in other regions.Organic agriculturein the differentcontinentsOceaniaThis area includes Australia and NewZealand as well as smaller countrieslike Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga andVanuatu. Altogether, more than 10 mil-lion hectares and 2,000 farms are underorganic management here. Most of this areais pastoral land for low intensity grazingin Australia. Therefore, one organic hec-tare in Australia is not directly equivalentto one organic hectare in Denmark, forexample, due to its level of productivity.Important types of production includefruit and vegetables, which are producedall year around, and dairy products (a rap-idly growing sector), rice, wool, herbs,wine, vegetable seed and sheep meat. InAustralia, growth in the organic industryhas been strongly influenced by rapidlygrowing overseas demand. The key mar-ket for export of Australian organic prod-ucts is Europe. In particular Germany, TheNetherlands and United Kingdom accountfor over 70% of Australian organic ex-ports. The government has taken a keeninterest in supporting the organic sectorlargely because it recognises the exportpotential. The same applies to New Zea-land. However, there are no subsidies fororganic agriculture in either country. Aus-tralia has had national standards for or-ganic and bio-dynamic products in placesince 1992, and it is one of the countrieson the third country list of the EuropeanUnion. While these standards are onlyenforced for export products, they do actas an informal standard domestically. Theterm ‘organic’ is not protected in the do-mestic market place and widespread useof the term for uncertified products cre-ates consumer confusion. In New Zealanda National Organic Standard was launchedon 4 November 2003, underpinning thevarious certification schemes that alreadyexist. New Zealand is also on the EU-thirdcountry list.While trends of rising consumer de-mand for organic products are becomingdiscernible, the organic food market inAustralia is still considered a niche mar-ket with organics accounting for only0.2% of food retail sales nationally. Onthe domestic market, organic produce re-ceives a substantial price premium overThe ten countries with the largestland area1 under organic managementAustralia 10,000,000 haArgentina 2,960,000 haItaly 1,168,000 haUSA 950,000 haBrazil 842,000 haUruguay 760,000 haUK 724,500 haGermany 697,000 haSpain 665,000 haFrance 509,000 haArea under organic management (a)and number of farms (b) as apercentage (%) of the worldwide totalab North America 5.9 2.3 Asia 3.7 13.3 Africa 1.3 5.4 Oceania 41.8 0.5 Latin America 24.2 30.9 Europe 23.1 37.7 1 Figures given to the nearest 500 ha Source: SOEL-Survey, February 2004IFOAM • ECOLOGY AND FARMING • January – April 2004        13Global Monitorthat of conventionally grown produce.Since the demand for organic products isoften greater than the available local sup-ply, Australia is an importer of organicfood. However, imports are mostly ofprocessed grocery lines, such as coffee,pasta sauces, olive oil, soy drink, and pre-serves, primarily from the United King-dom and the USA.Latin AmericaIn Latin American many countries havemore than 100,000 hectares of organicland, and having started from a recent lowlevel are now experiencing extraordinarygrowth rates. The total organically man-aged and certified area is now 5.8 millionhectares, with an additional 10,642,750hectares certified as ‘wild harvested’ areas.Almost all Latin American countrieshave an organic sector, though the levelof development varies widely. The coun-tries with the highest proportion of organicland are Uruguay, Costa Rica and Argen-tina. A major part of the 3 million organichectares in Argentina are extensive grass-land.In general, the organic movement inLatin America has grown through its ownefforts. No government provides eitherdirect subsidies or economic aid for or-ganic production. Costa Rica and someothers have official funding for researchand education, Argentina and Chile havehad official export agencies helping pro-ducers attend international fairs and printproduct catalogues, and in Mexico thereis a growing interest from national andstate agencies. In places there has beenseed funding for extension and associa-tion building from international aid agen-cies, especially from Germany, the Neth-erlands and Switzerland.Export is still the main organic activ-ity in Latin America. From the coffeebeans and bananas of Central America, tothe sugar in Paraguay and the cereals andmeat in Argentina, the trade of organicproduce has been mostly oriented towardsforeign markets.EuropeSince the beginning of the 1990s, or-ganic farming has rapidly developedin almost all European countries. Growthhas, however, slowed down recently. Ac-cording to FiBL, by the end of 2002,around 4.8 million hectares were managedorganically by almost 140,000 farms inthe 15 countries of the European Union(EU). This constituted 3.5% of the agri-cultural area and 2% of the farms in theEU. If the accession and EFTA countriesare included, the number of farms wasaround 154,000 and the land under or-ganic management almost 5.5 millionhectares. Compared to the previous year,this is an increase of 9%, mainly due to astrong growth in France, Spain and theUK. The number of farms went down,however, mainly due to a decrease in Italy.There are also substantial differencesbetween individual countries. More than11% of agricultural land is organic inAustria, and 10% in Switzerland. Somecountries have yet to reach 1%. The coun-try with the highest number of farms andthe greatest number of hectares is Italy.One quarter of the EU’s organic land andmore than one third of its organic farmsare located there.The Western European market for or-ganic food and drink was the largest inthe world, however it has now been over-taken by North America. European salesof organic products are estimated to haveexpanded by about 8% in 2002 to reachUS$10.5 billion. The market has enjoyedrapid expansion since the mid 1990s andis now reporting slowing growth rates ascertain sectors approach maturity.At the Conference ‘Organic Food andFarming – Towards Partnership and Ac-tion’ in Denmark 2001, agriculture min-isters from 12 European countries calledfor a European action plan for the devel-opment of organic farming and food. Cur-rently, the action plan is being developedfurther; in December 2002 a workingdocument entitled ‘Analysis of the possi-bility of a European Action Plan for or-ganic food and farming’ was prepared.The paper analysed the state of play ofthe development of organic farming in Eu-rope and listed possible actions to be in-cluded in the final Action Plan. In Febru-ary 2003, the working document and aquestionnaire with 12 key points were puton the EU Commission’s website. Thepublic was invited to react to the ques-tions and to give additional comments onthe working paper by 16 March 2003. A‘Report on the results of the online con-sultation: Action Plan for organic food andfarming’ has been published. Accordingto the European Commission there hadnever been a consultation with so muchfeedback as this one. A hearing took placeon 22 January 2004, attended by morethan a hundred organisations, AgriculturalMinisters from Member States, Accedingand Candidate Countries and farmermagazines were invited to participate. Byearly 2004, the Commission will preparethe final Action Plan in the form of a Com-munication to the Council and the Euro-pean Parliament. The Plan will proposeactions to facilitate the development oforganic farming.For more information see the website:  http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/qual/organic/plan/index_en.htmNorth AmericaIn North America almost 1.5 millionhectares are managed organically, rep-resenting approximately a 0.3% share ofthe total agricultural area. Currently, thenumber of organic farms is more than10,500. With the US national rule in place,the organic sector has been able to pro-vide a guarantee to consumers that organicproducts displaying the new label wereproduced under specific practices. The USmarket has seen more and more organic © F I BL,  PHOTO : S. G ARIBAY© BLE, B ONN , GERMANY . P HOTO : T H . S TEPHAN14       IFOAM • ECOLOGY AND FARMING • January – April 2004products being introduced, the number ofcertification agencies accredited byUSDA has grown, and talks are progress-ing to expedite international trade of or-ganic products. Since 1999, the Canadianindustry has had a voluntary Canada Or-ganic Standard. In January 2003, indus-try players met with representatives ofAgriculture & Agri-Foods Canada andagreed on the need for a mandatory regu-lation to help expedite trade relations withsuch major trading partners as the UnitedStates, European Union, and Japan. Inconjunction with this, efforts are underway to use the current Canada OrganicStandard as a guidance document to helpproduce revised standards, which are lessdetailed in scope and that can implementa regulation.The North American market for or-ganic products is reporting the highestgrowth worldwide. Organic food anddrink sales were estimated to have ex-panded by 12% to US$11.75 billion in2002. Consumer demand for organicproducts remains buoyant and the regionis expected to account for most global rev-enues in the foreseeable future.AsiaIn Asia, the area under organic manage-ment is comparatively small, but it isincreasing rapidly. Among the more sig-nificant countries producing organic prod-ucts are China, India and Indonesia as wellas Israel. For many countries no precisefigures are available, but Israel has almostreached 1%. The total organic area in Asiais now about 880,000 hectares, managedby 61,000 farms. Additionally, 35,000hectares are certified as ‘wild harvested’areas.Lack of certification and lack of or-ganic regulation is leading to consumerconfusion in many Asian countries. Mostorganic products are certified by foreigncertification agencies, although China,Israel and Japan have their own certifica-tion bodies. Only Israel has attainedequivalency status with the regulation ofthe EU. China, India, the Philippines,Thailand and Malaysia are also workingon organic legislation.The Japanese market for organic foodand drink is the most important in theAsian region. Sales of organic food anddrink were estimated at about US$50 mil-lion in 2002. Emergent domestic marketsin China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singa-pore and Thailand are maintaining growthtrends. Domestic price premiums rangefrom 10% to 400%, according to marketlocation, quality and products. The rangeof marketing channels is diverse, as aremarket conditions from rural India to To-kyo, including ad hoc organic bazaars,small retail shops, supermarkets, multi-level direct selling schemes and internetmarketing. Exports are still largely com-posed of fresh produce and low-valuecommodity crops. Recently, aquaculture,particularly shrimp farming, is becomingpopular, with projects in China, Indone-sia, Thailand and Vietnam.AfricaIn Africa, organic production is rarelycertified, but this year more figures thanin previous years were obtained. Organicfarming is increasing in Africa, especiallyin the southern countries, notably SouthAfrica. An important growth factor inAfrica is the demand for organic productsin the industrialised countries. Anothermotivation is the maintenance and build-ing of soil fertility on land threatened bydegradation and erosion. More than320,000 hectares and 71,000 farms arenow managed and certified organic. Ad-ditionally, 23,300 hectares are certified as‘wild harvested’ areas. With a few excep-tions (notably Egypt and South Africa) theAfrican market for organic produce is verysmall. This is due both to low income lev-els and an undeveloped infrastructure forinspection and certification. Most certi-fied organic production in Africa is gearedtowards export markets, with the largemajority being exported to the EU, whichis Africa’s largest market for agriculturalChallenges for the organic sectorIn many countries, especially those where organic farming is only beginning toemerge, the lack of credibility of organic products needs to be tackled. Unfortu-nately some cases of deception have lead to uncertainty among consumers. Theorganic movement faces the challenge of preventing these harmful occurrences.At the international level, the harmonisation of organic standards and certification isimportant in facilitating international trade in organic products. The IFOAM accredita-tion programme has already achieved a great deal in this respect. A first significantstep towards harmonisation was made with the Harmonisation Conference at theBioFach fair in 2002. With the support of Codex Alimentarius the private sectors’efforts towards harmonisation may be backed up by more organic regulations in manycountries.Organic standards do not yet deal with the issue of regional marketing or seasonalityof the produce. Long distant transport has to be considered critically in respect of theefficient and ecological treatment of energy resources. Even if the marketing of or-ganic products through supermarkets seems to be the future way for many countries,it is more important than ever that the local and regional supply of healthy food isincreased and guaranteed. There is still scope for trade, as northern countries cannotgrow tropical crops like coffee and bananas. Fair trade and social relationships are abasis and an important link between worldwide food security and the future furtherdevelopment of organic agriculture and food culture.produce. At present Tunisia is the only Af-rican country with its own organic (EUcompatible) standards, certification andinspection system. Egypt and South Af-rica have both made significant progressin this direction; both have two certifyingorganisations and are well on the way todeveloping standards. Global MonitorMinou Yussefi, SOELemail: yussefi@soel.deHelga Willer, FiBLemail: helga.willer@fibl.orgBernward Geier, IFOAMemail: b.geier@ifoam.orgThe following authors contributed to the study: AmarjitSahota (Global Market), Lukas Kilcher, Beate Huber,Otto Schmid (Regulation/Certification), Darrren Halpin,Martin Brueckner, Seager Mason (Australia/Oceania),Nicholas Parrot & Fred Kalibwani (Africa), Ong KungWai (Asia), Helga Willer & Toralf Richter (Europe), PipoLernoud (Latin America), Barbara Haumann (NorthAmerica).Further information for graphs, list of links and conti-nent reports for organic agriculture worldwide atwww.soel.de/oekolandbau/weltweit.html; organic farm-ing in Europe at www.organic-europe.netThis article reported on the findings publishedin The World of Organic Agriculture 2004 –Statistics and Emerging Trends.  See page45 for more details.© FAO/16807/W. C IESLA

Organic Agriculture Worldwide - Still on the Rise 2004

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