Organic farming gaining ground, Commission report shows

摘要

The organic sector in the EU has been rapidly developing over the past decade, with the organic area growing by about 500,000 hectares per year, the European Commission's latest report, published on 12 November, reveals. According to Euro-stat data cited in the report, there were more than 186,000 organic farms across Europe in 2011, cultivating an area of 9.6 million hectares, ie 5.4% of the total agricultural land. A decade ago, in 2002, the respective figure was 5.7 million hectares. Most of the organic land (78%) and organic farnis (83%) are situated in the member states that joined the EU before 2004 (the so-called EU15).