Organic continues to grow. According to The World of Organic Agriculture 2023, the report by FiBL and IFOAM presented at BIOFACH, the progression of organic farming has slowed down while continuing to expand.
Organic, the 2023 report of FiBL and IFOAM
The data (for 2021) compiled by the FiBL Organic Agriculture Research Institute in collaboration with IFOAM, the Federation of Organic Associations, are overall encouraging. (1)
Despite the constraints imposed by permacrisis (permanent crisis, pandemic first and war later), forcing many households to fall back on cheaper non-organic food, all organic fundamentals show positive trends.
A 125 billion euro market
The global organic market in 2021 reached nearly 125 billion euros, an increase of nearly 4 billion euros.
The top three markets in the world are in
- United States, 48.6 billion,
- Germany, 15.9 billion euros,
- France, 12.7 billion euros.
Two other firsts include.
- Switzerland, where consumers spend the most on buying organic food (425 euros per capita on average)
- Denmark, where the organic share of the total food market soars to 13 percent.
Organic in Europe, +3.8%
In Europe, the market is growing by +3.8 percent overall, reaching a turnover of 54.5 billion euros. A significant contraction, compared to 2020, the boom year with +13% sales.
Broadening the horizon, however, average spending on organic products in 2021 was 65.7 euros per person, which is double the average recorded over the 2012-2021 decade.
More agricultural land under organic cultivation
The extent of land that has abandoned agrotoxics and techniques harmful to the environment, animal welfare and human health is also encouraging.
In the 191 countries monitored, organic farmland has grown to a global total of 76.4 million hectares (first is Australia with 35.7 million hectares) with the commitment of at least 3.7 million farmers (first is India with 1.6 million).
The European agricultural area under organic cultivation in 2021 grew by +4.4 percent compared to 2020. In one year, therefore, another 0.8 million hectares were converted to organic, for a total of 17.8 million hectares (15.6 million hectares in the EU alone), accounting for 3.6 percent of total farmland (9.6 percent in the EU). It is taken care of by 440,000 producers, including more than 75,000 in Italy (first in Europe for number of operators).
On the podium for organic extension
- France, nearly 2.8 million hectares,
- Spain with 2.6 million ha,
- Italy, 2.2 million hectares.
Data and trends in the world
In addition to valuable data, The World of Organic Agriculture 2023report also provides.
- information on regulations, policies and participatory guarantee systems (PGS) in different countries,
- insights into the trend of organic farming in countries where it is in an emerging state (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania) and where it is already established (Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, the United States and Ukraine).
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Helga Willer, Bernhard Schlatter, Jan Trávníček (Eds.) 2023. The World of Organic Agriculture. 2023. FiBL, IFOAM – Organics International. 978-3-03736-456-7; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.757289078-3 https://www.fibl.org/en/shop-en/1254-organic-world-2023
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".
