The area devoted to organic farming in the European Union has increased by more than one fifth, from 9.2 million hectares in 2010 to 11.1 million hectares in 2015. According to data released by the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, 6.2% of the total utilised agricultural area is now certified as organic or currently under conversion. Also the number of registered organic producers is on the rise, reaching 271,500 organic farmers by the end of 2015, up 5.4% compared with 2014. With 1.9 million hectares, Spain is the country with the largest area dedicated to organic argiculture, followed by Italy (1,492,579 ha), France (1,361,512 ha) and Germany (1,060,291 ha). These four countries together are accounting for half ot the EU’s organic crop area. Between 2010 and 2015, the area devoted to organic farming has grown in all Member States except the United Kingdom and the Netherlands where the area decreased by 29% and 4% respectively. Considerable progress was made in Croatia and Bulgaria. Both countries recorded almost a fourfold increase of the area devoted to organic farming.

Austria is the leading country when it comes to the highest share of organic crop area, with one fifth (or 552 thousand hectares) of its total agricultural area farmed organically in 2015. In Sweden, 17% of the total farmed area is under organic agriculture, in Estonia the figure is 16%. At the bottom of the table ranks Malta with only 0.3% of the area farmed organically, followed by Ireland (1.6%) and Romania (1.8%). Increasing the size of the area devoted to organic agriculture could offer great benefits. According to the Eurostat press release, “organic farming combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and high production standards based on natural substances and processes.” In addition, “it provides for a specific market responding to a specific consumer demand while at the same time delivering public goods in terms of environmental protection, animal welfare and rural development.” (ab)