Estonia: More than ten percent organic agricultural land in 2009

In Estonia, organic land has expanded more than ten times since 2000.  In 2009, 95'167 hectares were managed organically - 8 percent more than in 2008. In addition to the agricultural land there were almost 8'000 hectares of grazing ares on non-agricultural land and 36'000 hectares of wild collection areas and 

By 2009, the organic land constituted more than ten percent of all agricultural land in use, and there were 1277 organic producers.

One of the reasons for this growth is  the financial support since the year 2000.

The size of organic farmland has expanded from year to year, to an average area of 80 hectares. The largest organic farms have over 1000 hectares of land.

However, processing and marketing has not kept up with this growth. The Estonian Organic Farming Action Plan 2007–2013 and the Estonian Rural Development Plan 2007–2013 will contribute to the expansion of the organic
sector in Estonia.

More information

• Broshure Organic Farming In Estonia 2009
• PMA.Agri.ee: Organic plant production 2009
• Organic-World.net: European organic farming statistics