Brussels, 01/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - According to data published on Monday 1 March by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, the surface area is used for organic farming within the EU represented 7.8 million hectares in 2008, or an increase of 7% on 2007 figures. Over a longer period, the data available show an increase of 21% in the total surface area used for organic farming between 2005 and 2008.
In 2008, the five member states of the EU with the largest surface areas devoted to organic farming were Spain (1.3 million hectares), Italy (1.0 million hectares), Germany (0.9 million hectares), the United Kingdom (0.7 million hectares) and France (0.6 million hectares).
In 2007, the total surface area given over to organic farming represented 4.1% of the total agricultural surface area used within the EU. The highest proportions of surface area used for organic farming were to be found in Austria (15.7% of the total of agricultural surface area), Sweden (9.9%) and Italy (8.9%).
Between 2007 and 2008, the total surface area used for organic farming grew in all member states for which data were available, with the exception of Italy (-13%). The greatest increases were observed in Spain (+33%), Bulgaria (+22%), Slovakia (+19%), Hungary (+15%) and in Greece (+14%). Over the period 2005-2008, the highest increases were recorded in Poland (+94%), Lithuania (+89%), Spain (+63%) and in Belgium (+57%). Decreases were observed only in Italy (-6%) and Hungary (-5%).
In 2008, the three main uses for organically farmed land in the EU were pastures and prairies (44% of all surface area converted for organic use in the EU27, with the exception of Germany), arable land (37%) and permanent crops (10%). The remaining 9% were used for set-aside and unused surface area.
Still in 2008, the most popular arable crops were cereals (44% of all surface area used for organic farming and given over to arable crops), followed by green fodder (42%), other arable crops such as dried vegetables, potatoes, sugar beet, arable seeds and seedlings (7%), fresh vegetables and industrial crops (4% each). (L.C./transl.fl)