Organic continues to grow. According to The World of Organic Agriculture 2023, the FiBL and IFOAM report presented at BIOFACH, the progression of organic farming has slowed down, although it continues to expand.
Organic, the 2023 report by FiBL and IFOAM
The data (relative to 2021) prepared by the FiBL Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in collaboration with IFOAM, the Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, are overall encouraging. (1)
Despite the constraints imposed by permacrisis (permanent crisis, first from the pandemic and then from war), which force many families to fall back on cheaper non-organic food, all the fundamentals of organic show trends positive.
A market worth 125 billion euros
The global market of organic in 2021 reached almost 125 billion euros, with an increase of nearly 4 billion euros.
The top three markets in the world are in
- United States, 48.6 billion euros,
- Germany, 15.9 billion euros,
- France, 12.7 billion euros.
Two other records concern
- Switzerland, where consumers spend the most on organic food (425 euros per capita on average)
- Denmark, where the organic share of the total food market reaches 13%.
Organic in Europe, +3.8%
In Europe the market grows overall by +3.8%, reaching a turnover of 54.5 billion euros. A significant contraction, compared to 2020, the year of boom +13% in sales.
Broadening the horizon, however, the average spending on organic products in 2021 was 65.7 euros per person, twice the average recorded in the decade 2012-2021.
More agricultural land cultivated organically
The extent of the land that have abandoned agrotoxins and techniques harmful to the environment, animal welfare, and human health is also encouraging.
In the 191 countries monitored, organic agricultural land has grown to reach a global total of 76.4 million hectares (Australia first with 35.7 million hectares) with the commitment of at least 3.7 million farmers (India first with 1.6 million).
The European agricultural area cultivated organically in 2021 increased by +4.4% compared to 2020. In one year, therefore, another 0.8 million hectares were converted to organic, for a total of 17.8 million hectares (15.6 million hectares in the European Union alone), equal to 3.6% of the total agricultural land (9.6% in the EU). There are 440 thousand producers involved, over 75 thousand of whom are in Italy (first in Europe in terms of number of operators).
On the podium for organic extent
- France, nearly 2.8 million hectares,
- Spain with 2.6 million ha,
- Italy, 2.2 million hectares.
Data and trends in the world
The report The World of Organic Agriculture 2023, in addition to the valuable data, also provides
- information on regulations, policies and participatory guarantee systems (PGS) in various countries,
- insights on trends organic agriculture in countries where it is emerging (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania) and where it is already established (Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, United States and Ukraine).
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Helga Willer, Bernhard Schlatter, Jan Trávníček (Eds.) 2023. The World of Organic Agriculture. 2023. FiBL, IFOAM – Organics International. 978-3-03736-456-7; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.757289078-3 https://www.fibl.org/en/shop-en/1254-organic-world-2023
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'.
