According to a report published by Eurostat (European Statistical Office), in 2018 the European Union had 13.4 million hectares devoted to organic farming. This represents 7.5% of the EU's useful agricultural area (UAA) and entails an increase of 33.7% compared to 2012; an expansion that is expected to continue.
Spain is the EU country with the largest organic acreage, with 9.3% of the total UAA (this year's data), although Austria is the one that dedicates a greater share of its UAA, with almost a quarter of the total.
Eurostat specified that this area includes the hectares already cultivated with organic crops and those that are in the conversion process. The data shows that almost all Member States registered a significant increase during the period at hand, except for two: the United Kingdom and Poland. The countries with the largest acreage are Spain, France, Italy and Germany, which account for more than half of the total.
45.2% of the EU's organic area, just over 6 million hectares, was dedicated to farmland (herbaceous crops, tubers, vegetables and industrial crops). Another 43.9% corresponded to permanent pastures and the remaining 10.8% to woody crops (olive groves, vineyards, fruit trees and red fruits). These percentages vary significantly depending on the Member State. For example, in Finland almost 100% is devoted to farmland, while in Spain woody crops account for more than 20% of the total.
Source: agropopular.com