The leaflet EU environment-related indicators 2009 published recently by the Directorate General (DG) Environment of the European Commission presents 10 environment-related indicators* that highlight environmental trends, and organic farming is one of them.
According to DG Environment, in 2007, 4.1 percent of EU-27* farmland was organic, slightly up from 4.0 percent in 2006. Austria has the highest share of organic farming, followed by Latvia. Italy accounts for 16 percent of the total organic area in the EU-27.
However, although there is a big difference between the EU-15 (share 4.6 percent) and the new member states (2.9 percent), organic farming has seen rapid growth in the new member states in recent years, comparable to that in EU-15 during the 1990s.
The data on organic farming and the targets set for organic farming were supplied by Eurostat, FiBL and Aberystwyth University.
*Over the past 30 years the European Union and its Member States have adopted a range of environmental measures aimed at improving and protecting the environment. Indicators are a concise way of showing progress – or the lack of it – towards achieving environmental protection goals.
** The current 27 Member States of the European Union are listed here.
*** Until 2004 the European Union had 15 member states. A map showing the development of the number of the member states is available at the homepage of the European Commission.
Further reading
EU environment related indicators 2009
EU environment-related indicators - Leaflets 2004-2009
ORGAP Project: Overview on quantitative targets in EU Action Plans – an overview for the European Union, November 2008 (also available in the 2009 edition of The World of Organic Agriculture).
Organic Europe Net: Current European Organic Farming Statistics, FiBL Survey
Organic-World Net: Organic farming in Europe
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