Luxemburg, 13/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of “Green Week 2007” (see EUROPE 9443), Eurostat has just published a report on organic agriculture within the EU. It appears that in 2005, the total surface area given over to organic farming represented 3.9% of the total utilised agricultural area of the Union of 25. The largest proportions in terms of area for organic farming were to be found in Austria (11%), Italy (8.4%), the Czech Republic and Greece (7.2% each) and the lowest in Malta (0.1%), Poland (0.6%) and in Ireland (0.8%). Taken over a longer period of time (for which the data available relates to the EU of 15), the proportion of surface area used for organic farming has risen from 1.8% in 1998 to 4.1% in 2005. In the EU25 in 2005, 6.1 million hectares (ha) of land were used for organic farming. The largest proportion of this area was in Italy (1.1 million ha, or 17% of the total of the EU25), followed by Germany and Spain (0.8 million ha each, or 13%).
The statistical office of the EU also indicates that in 2005, 1.6% of all agricultural holdings were organic in the EU of 25. In almost all of the member states the average size of organic farms was greater than that of farms as a whole: 39 ha per organic holding, compared to 16 ha per holding on average. The largest organic farms were situated in Slovakia (463 ha per holding), the Czech Republic (305 ha), Portugal (148 ha) and the United Kingdom (142 ha).
Surface areas given over to organic farming include areas which have been totally converted and which are in the process of being converted. Eurostat points out that before it can be considered as having been totally converted to organic farming, the surface area first undergoes a period during which it is the subject of a conversion process. In 2005, the proportion of area being converted out of the total area used for organic farming varied between the member states, from less than 10% in Denmark (1%), the Netherlands (4%), Finland (8%) and Sweden (9%), to more than 80% in Malta (100%), Cyprus (87%) and Latvia (83%).
“Different Organic Farming Patterns within EU25” is available at the following address: http: //epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-07-069/EN/KS-SF-07-069-EN.PDF (ol)