Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 4 • 2nd March 2007

Global Organic Agriculture Continues to Grow

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Annual statistics on global organic agriculture show growth both of production and of markets.

The ninth edition of ‘The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends’ was released in mid-February by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), Foundation Ecology and Agriculture (SOEL) and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL).

According to the survey, almost 31 million hectares of land were managed organically on more than 600,000 farms worldwide in 2006. This constituted 0.7 percent of agricultural land. Australia led with almost 11.9 million hectares of organic land, followed by Europe (7 million hectares) and Latin America. In Africa, 0.9 million hectares of agricultural land was organically cultivated.

Certain European countries had the highest share of organic agriculture as compared to conventional agriculture — Austria and Switzerland reached 10 percent or more. The US, followed by Argentina, saw the greatest increase in land under organic farming last year. On the other hand, organic land (extensive pastoral land) in China, Chile and Australia decreased.

According to the study, global sales of organic products approached USD 40 billion in 2006. Demand was concentrated in Europe and North America, which imported large volumes from other regions.

In terms of the practicalities of these imports, the study noted that more than 60 countries had regulations on organic standards, and 395 organisations worldwide offered organic certification services. A lack of mutual acceptance and recognition of different certification and accreditation systems hurt trade and market development, the study noted. It highlighted the establishment of an International Task Force on Harmonisation and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture as a possible solution. The task force aims at generating consensus on harmonising standards/regulations between the private sector and government and between governments.

Cotton - a major topic in ongoing WTO negotiations - was one of the crops scrutinised by the study. Turkey was the global leader with regard to organic cotton cultivation in 2006, followed by the US, Mali, Pakistan, Benin, Greece, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt and Burkina Faso.

Additional resources

The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2007. Chapters with main results accessible at http://orgprints.org/10506/01/willer-yussefi-2007-p1-44.pdf

ICTSD reporting.