Organic food in Italy continues to grow, despite the difficulties. The trend is described in the report ‘Bio in figures 2024’, drawn up by Ismea and the CIHEAM-Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari on the basis of SINAB, the National Information System on Organic Agriculture.
Organic surfaces on the rise
Italian agricultural surfaces cultivated organically – without synthetic chemicals – increased by 106 thousand hectares, reaching 2,46 million hectares, with an increase of 4,5% compared to the previous year. The growth mainly concerned the central and northern regions.
The SAU (Used agricultural area) cultivated organically in Italy represents almost a fifth (19,8%) of the total. The share is among the highest in Europe and brings Italy further closer to the objective of 25% of UAA cultivated organically by 2030, set by the European Commission in the context of the Farm to fork strategy (target already achieved by 6 Italian regions).
More producer-preparers
The number of operators grew little (+1,8% to 94.441 units, compared to 7,7% in 2022).
The increase, notes ‘Bio in figures 2024’, concerns above all the 84.000 agricultural companies (89% of the total organic operators) and, among these, in particular the component of producers/preparers, confirming the tendency to introduce organic first transformation activities to retain a greater share of added value.
Agricultural use of surfaces is thus articulated
- arable land (42,1%)
- meadows and pastures (29,7%)
- permanent crops (22,8%)
- vegetables (2,5%).
Italian consumption in stasis
Domestic consumption of organic products in the large-scale retail channel alone reached 3,8 billion euros. The increase in value is +5,2% over 2022 (the most sustained growth rate in recent years), against unchanged volumes.
The trend conforms to the general dynamics of food product purchases. As reported by the Osservatorio Immagino, driven by price increases, turnover is growing but volumes sold are decreasing.
In organic, however, the inflationary pressure is lower than that observed in ‘conventional’, i.e. non-organic, agri-food, where purchases grew by 8,1% in value, but fell by 1,1% in quantity.
Marta Strinati
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".