EU’s organic farming area covered 15.9 million hectares

The area used for organic agricultural production in the EU continues to increase. It expanded from 14.7 million hectares (ha) in 2020 to 15.9 million ha in 2021, the equivalent of 9.9% of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA) in the EU.

Between 2012 and 2021, the area used for organic farming increased in almost all EU countries. The area almost quadrupled in Portugal (+283%) and Croatia (+282%), the sharpest rates of increase within the EU. It also grew rapidly in France (+169%) and also more than doubled in Hungary (+125%) and Romania (+101%).

The highest shares of organic farming areas within total UAA were in Austria (26% in 2020), Estonia (23% in 2021) and Sweden (20% in 2021).  By contrast, the share of organic farming was below 5% in six EU countries in 2021, with the lowest shares in Bulgaria (1.7%) and Malta (0.6%).

This information comes from data published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

Source dataset: org_cropar and apro_cpsh1