Annex 4: Case study “Organic Farming” - ITAS

2. Current Relevance / Basic Data on Use
2.1. Globally
“Organic agriculture is developing rapidly, and statistical information is now available from
138 countries. Its share of agricultural land and farms continues to grow in many countries.
According to the FiBL Survey 2008, more than 30.4 million hectares were managed
organically by more than 700’000 farms worldwide in 2006. This constitutes 0.65 percent of
the agricultural land of the countries covered by the survey.
In total, Oceania holds 42 percent of the world’s organic land, followed by Europe
(24 percent) and Latin America (16 percent). Currently (as of the end of 2006), the countries
with the largest organic areas are Australia (12.3 million hectares), China (2.3 million
hectares), Argentina (2.2 million hectares) and the US (1.6 million hectares).” [Willer,
Sorensen, Yussefi-Menzler, 2008, p.15].
© SOEL, Source: FiBL Survey 2008
Figure 2:
Organic agriculture worldwide 2006. FiBL Survey 2008, Graph: Minou Yussefi-
Menzler, SOEL in Willer, Menzler-Yussefi, Sorensen 2008, p.15.
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