Organic farming in Italy continues to grow despite difficulties. The trend is described in the report 'Bio in numbers 2024', prepared by Ismea and the CIHEAM Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari based on SINAB, the National Information System on Organic Farming.
Organic areas increasing
Agricultural areas cultivated with organic methods – without synthetic chemicals – have increased by 106 thousand hectares, reaching 2.46 million hectares, with a 4.5% increase compared to the previous year. Growth mainly affected central and northern regions.
The UAA (Utilized agricultural area) cultivated organically in Italy accounts for almost one fifth (19.8%) of the total. This share is among the highest in Europe and brings Italy closer to the target of 25% UAA cultivated organically by 2030, set by the European Commission in the Farm to Fork strategy (target already achieved by 6 Italian regions).
More producer-processors
The number of operators has grown little (+1.8% to 94,441 units, compared to 7.7% in 2022).
The increase, notes 'Bio in numbers 2024', mainly concerns the 84,000 farms (89% of total organic operators) and, among these, particularly the producer-processor component, confirming the trend of introducing primary processing activity within the company to retain a larger share of added value.
Agricultural use of the areas is structured as follows
- arable land (42.1%)
- meadows and pastures (29.7%)
- permanent crops (22.8%)
- vegetables (2.5%).
Consumption stagnant
Domestic consumption Organic product sales in the GDO channel alone reached 3.8 billion euros. The value increase is +5.2% compared to 2022 (the highest growth rate of recent years), with volumes unchanged.
The trend is in line with the general dynamics of food product purchases. As reported by the Immagino Observatory, driven by price increases, turnover grows but sold volumes decrease.
In organic products, however, the inflationary pressure is lower than that observed in the ‘conventional’ agri-food sector, i.e., non-organic, where purchases increased by 8.1% in value but dropped by 1.1% in quantity.
Marta Strinati
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of journalistic investigations on food, she published the book 'Reading labels to know what we eat'.
