Organic in numbers 2026, organic data in Italy

The report Bio in numbers 2026, edited by ISMEA (Institute of services for the agricultural food market) with CIHEAM Bari (Center International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes) for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, describes Italian organic agriculture in 2025. The area cultivated organically is 2,377,749 hectares, equal to 19,4% of the utilized agricultural area (UAA). There are 95,389 operators and domestic consumption is valid 4.44 billion euros (+9.2%). The data were anticipated in Rome on 23 September 2026, European Organic Day, together with the presentation of the Italian organic brand (SINAB, 2026a).

In 2025, demand grows and surfaces shrink, after a decade of almost continuous expansion. The SINAB (National Information System on Organic Agriculture) infographics, created within the DIMECOBIO V 2025-2028 programme, show where and how.

GIFT followed previous editions of the report, which documented the growth of organic surfaces:

• almost 2.2 million hectares at the end of 2021 (Strinati, 2022);
• over 2.3 million hectares in 2022 (Ferrucci et al., 2023);
• 2.46 million hectares in 2023 (Strinati, 2024);
• over 2.5 million hectares in 2024 (GIFT editorial team, 2026).

2025 is therefore the first year of decline in this series.

Biological surfaces, 2.38 million hectares

There Organic UAA has dropped by 5,4% compared to 2024, approximately 137 thousand hectares less. The previous year it had exceeded 2.5 million hectares, equal to 20.2% of the national UAA (ISMEA & CIHEAM Bari, 2025). The incidence on the national total thus goes from 20.2% to 19.4% (SINAB et al., 2026b).

The decline it concerns almost only the surfaces in conversion, i.e. land that has not yet completed the period required to obtain organic qualification. These surfaces have reduced by 24.4%, especially on meadows and pastures. The surfaces Already certified instead they almost remained stable, with a decrease of 0.5%.

The same trend can be seen in distribution of organic UAA. Arable land rises to 41.5% (40% in 2024) and permanent grassland falls to 28.4% (31% in 2024). This is followed by permanent crops with 23.6%, fallow land with 4.1% and vegetables with 2.4% (SINAB et al., 2026b; GIFT editorial team, 2026).

Among the production orientations, in thousands of hectares, permanent meadows (675) and fodder crops (507) precede cereals (315) and olive trees (286). This is followed by grapevines (130), protein crops (69), nuts (66), industrial crops (65), vegetables (57), fruit (34) and citrus fruits (33) (SINAB et al., 2026b).

Regions beyond the 25% target

THE'European Union, in the strategy Farm to Fork, has set 2030 as theobjective of 25% of organic agricultural surface. In Italy eight regions and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano have already surpassed it. In first place is the Aosta Valley with 40.9%, then Calabria (36.0%), Tuscany (33.1%), Basilicata (31.9%), Sicily (29.8%) and Marche (28.5%). Followed by Liguria (25.4%), Campania (25.2%) and Bolzano (25.2%). Liguria is the new entry compared to 2024. Puglia (24.0%) and Lazio (22.6%) are close to the threshold, while Veneto, Piedmont, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia remain between 4.8% and 5.8% (SINAB et al., 2026b).

In absolute values, the primacy goes to Sicily, with approximately 410 thousand hectares, followed by Puglia (313 thousand) e Tuscany (238 thousand). The three regions together cover approximately 40% of the national organic UAA. The main regional orientations are different:

• in Sicily and Sardinia permanent meadows prevail;
• in Puglia and Calabria the olive tree prevails;
• in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Marche, fodder crops prevail (SINAB et al., 2026b).

In European comparison, Italy remains among the countries with the highest incidence of organic farming. In 2024 the European Union had 18.1 million organic hectares, the11,1% of agricultural surface (FiBL, 2026).

Operators and agricultural companies

The biological operators there are 95,389, 1.8% less than in 2024. There are 85,443 agricultural companies and represent 89.6% of the total (SINAB et al., 2026b). By category:

• exclusive producers drop to 70,400 (-2.6%);
• preparatory producers, who also transform their own raw material, rise to 15,016 (+2.1%);
• exclusive preparers dropped to 9,376 (-2.0%);
• importers rise to 597 (+4.0%).

The growth of preparatory producers indicates that companies retain a greater share of value through self-transformation.

In terms of number of operators, Southern Italy is in the lead:

• Sicily, 14,231;
• Puglia, 11,761;
• Calabria, 10,197;
• Campania, 9,579.

Followed by Tuscany (7,892), Emilia-Romagna (6,125) and Lazio (5,433). Tuscany has 2,476 preparatory producers, almost as many as Sicily (2,600) with just over half of the total operators (SINAB et al., 2026b).

Animal husbandry and organic aquaculture

In the animal husbandry the highest impacts on national assets are found:

• in hives, 14.5%, equal to 220,286 hives;
• in goats, 11.6%, equal to 100,249 heads;
• in sheep, 10.6%, equal to 556,672 heads.

There are 416,949 organic cattle, 7.2% of the total, against the 9.1% indicated for 2024 (GIFT editorial team, 2026). The poultry heads are 4,199,227 (2.7%) and the pigs 35,329 (0.5%) (SINAB et al., 2026b). Extensive farming of small ruminants is confirmed as the most suitable for the organic method.

THE'organic aquaculture it has 61 operators (-4.7%) and produces 13.2 thousand tonnes. The mussels represent 93% of volumes. This is followed by aquatic plants, including algae (3%), sea bream (2%), sea bass (1%) and other species (1%). The plants are mainly located in Veneto (25) and Emilia-Romagna (18), along the Upper Adriatic. This is followed by Puglia (5), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (4) and Sardinia (3) (SINAB et al., 2026b).

Imports from third countries

The imports of organic products from third countries were developed starting from the electronic inspection certificates of the TRACES system (TRAde Control and Expert System). The processing is by CIHEAM Bari and the Polytechnic University of Marche, in the PRO4DATI BIO project (SINAB et al., 2026b).

By product type, in volume:

• cereals, 29.9%;
• fresh and dried fruit, 20.0%;
• industrial crops, 14.5%;
• coffee, cocoa, sugars, tea and spices, 11.6%;
• vegetables and legumes, 10.6%;
• vegetable oils, 7.2%;
• processed products, 6.2%.

There Türkiye remains the first supplier (15.1%), followed by Ecuador (10.6%), Pakistan (8.9%) and Peru (7.6%). Then come Tunisia (6.9%), Togo (6.8%), China (6.6%), Egypt (4.9%), Ukraine (4.3%) and Serbia (3.9%). Ecuador rises to second place, led by bananas. By geographical area, non-EU Europe (26.0%) and South America (23.2%) prevail, with Asia (21.7%) and Africa (21.3%) not far behind (SINAB et al., 2026b).

Domestic consumption, 4.44 billion euros

The domestic purchases of organic products are estimated by the ISMEA-NielsenIQ Observatory. In 2025 they reached 4.44 billion euros, +9.2% on 2024, equal to 4,0% of Italian agri-food spending (3.6% in 2024) (SINAB et al., 2026b). The growth of 9.2% concerns both value and volumes.

The 2025 data takes into account the expansion and new stratification of the NielsenIQ sample (SINAB et al., 2026b). Direct comparison with the 3.96 billion published for 2024 (GIFT editorial team, 2026) would indicate an increase of approximately 12%, higher than the 9.2% indicated. The ISMEA-NielsenIQ estimate in turn measures a different perimeter from that of the SANA Observatory of Nomisma, which also includes outside the home (Dongo, 2026b).

In the organic cart the products fresh they weigh two thirds:

• milk and derivatives, 24.3%;
• fruit, 24.2%;
• vegetables, 18.5%.

This is followed by cereal derivatives (10.4%), fresh eggs (4.7%), soft drinks (2.9%), vegetable oils and fats (2.0%) (SINAB et al., 2026b).

For geographical area, The South with Sicily it represents 29.2% of spending. Followed by the North-West (26.6%), the Center with Sardinia (23.6%) and the North-East (20.6%). The South and the islands are therefore in the lead in both production and consumption (SINAB et al., 2026b).

There large-scale distribution absorbs the 78,5% of sales:

• supermarkets, 37.0%;
• hypermarkets, 19.8%;
• discount, 14.9%;
• free services, 6.8%.

The traditional detail it reaches 21.5% and surpasses hypermarkets, which were ahead in 2024 (GIFT editorial team, 2026). The weight of the channels varies greatly from one category to another:

• in vegetables the traditional detail is the first channel (33.0%);
• in fish products, supermarkets and hypermarkets cover over 90%;
• in soft drinks the discount reaches 28.4% (SINAB et al., 2026b).

The Italian organic brand

The Italian organic brand is provided for by law 23/2022. Its attribution and use rules are set by ministerial decree 26 May 2026, n. 251972, published in the Official Journal on 13 July 2026. The sign depicts a leaf-shaped composition in the colors of the Italian flag (Dongo, 2026a).

The mark is voluntary and free. It is reserved for organic products that bear the indication of origin 'Italian Agriculture' or 'Aquaculture Italy' (EU regulation 2018/848, art. 32.2). It must always be placed next to the organic logo of the European Union, in the same field of vision and in no larger size. The application is submitted via the SIB (Biological Information System). If the ministry does not communicate a denial within thirty days, use is authorized by silent consent (Dongo, 2026a).

Applications can be submitted starting from 15 September 2026. The mark does not introduce further certification: it signals the national origin of the raw material on products already certified according to European standards. GIFT has already examined the requirements of the decree and its compatibility profiles with the single market (Dongo, 2026a).

An overall reading

Italian organic remains among the first in Europe in terms of surface areas, operators and number of regions beyond the 2030 target. Domestic consumption is at the highest in the series. The decline in surfaces in 2025 depends almost entirely on conversions, while the part already certified is stable. The decline in conversions is the figure to follow in the coming years, because the future supply of national raw materials depends on them.

Two signals point in the direction of supply chain integration: the growth of producers who transform on their own and the new sign of origin. Values, guarantees and controls of the organic system are described in a previous study (Dongo, 2026b).

Marta Strinati

References

European Union regulatory sources

Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labeling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007. Consolidated text: 03/25/2025. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/848/2025-03-25

Italian regulatory sources

Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry 26 May 2026, n. 251972. Conditions and methods of attribution of the Italian organic label. Official Journal, General Series n. 160 of 13 July 2026. https://www.gazzetta ufficio.it/eli/id/2026/07/13/26A03407/sg

Law 9 March 2022, n. 23. Provisions for the protection, development and competitiveness of organic agricultural, agri-food and aquaculture production. Regulatory. Latest consolidated version: 07/13/2024. https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2022-03-09;23!vig=

Statistical sources and reports

FiBL – Research Institute of Organic Agriculture. (2026, February 10). Europe's organic market sets another record in 2024 – Farmland stable at 19.6 million hectares. https://www.fibl.org/en/info-centre/news/europes-organic-market-sets-another-record-in-2024-farmland-stable

ISMEA & CIHEAM Bari for MASAF. (2025). Bio in numbers 2025. https://www.ismeamercati.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/1%252F9%252Fd%252FD.6a384bd4f41fb8df3b0b/P/BLOB%3AID%3D13718/E/pdf?mode=inline

SINAB. (2026a, September 24). European Organic Day 2026: the market is growing, Italy is close to 20% organic surface area and presents the Italian Organic Brand. https://sinab.it/bionovita/giornata-europea-del-biologico-2026-cresce-il-mercato-litalia-sfiora-il-20-di-superficie-bio-e-presenta-il-marchio-biologico-italiano/

SINAB, ISMEA & CIHEAM Bari. (2026b). Bio in numbers. The numbers of the organic sector in 2025 [Infographics, DIMECOBIO V program 2025-2028]. https://sinab.it/report-annuali/

Insights

Dongo, D. (2026a, July 21). Italian organic label, rules and critical issues. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/certificazioni-e-analysis/marchio-biologico-italiano-decreto-regole/

Dongo, D. (2026b, August 30). Organic: values, controls and data in Italy and the EU. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/certificazioni-e-analysis/biologico-valori-controlli-dati-filiera/

Ferrucci, D., Dongo, D., & Passeri, N. (2023, July 25). The organic numbers in Italy, an in-depth analysis. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/notizie/i-numeri-del-bio-in-italia-un-approfondimento/

GIFT editorial team. (2026, January 5). Italian organic agriculture reaches historic goals: Organic in Figures 2025. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/notizie/agricoltura-biologica-bio-cifre-2025/

Strinati, M. (2022, July 6). Organic in Italy, preview of Organic in figures 2022. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/notizie/il-biologico-in-italia-premiere-di-bio-in-cifre-2022/

Strinati, M. (2024, July 18). Organic in numbers 2024, growth continues in Italy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/notizie/bio-in-cifre-2024-prosegue-la-growth-in-italia/