Agriculture, more EU land goes organic, but Green Deal target is at risk

Brussels – The share of land devoted to organic farming is increasing, but the pace of growth is not sufficient to reach the 25 per cent target set by the European Green Deal by 2030. The warning comes from the European Environment Agency (EEA), whose figures show that the proportion of EU farmland devoted to organic farming has risen from 5.9 per cent in 2012 to 10.8 per cent in 2023, covering about 17.4 million hectares of the EU’s utilised agricultural area. 

Austria—which by rising from 18.6 per cent in 2012 to 27 per cent in 2023 is the only country to have already reached and exceeded the Green Deal’s target of 25 per cent by 2030—, Estonia (up from 14,9 to 22.8 per cent), Portugal (from 5.5 to 22.5 per cent) and Italy (from 9.3 to 18.8 per cent) are the countries that have achieved the highest percentages. While on the opposite side of the scale are Malta (from 0.3 to 0.8 per cent), Bulgaria (from 0.8 to 3 per cent), Ireland (from 1.2 to 4.3 per cent) and Poland, which is the only EU country to see its percentage fall from 4.5 in 2012 to 4.3 in 2023, although it has shown signs of recovery after 2020. The only other country (outside the EU but cooperating with the EEA) where the share decreased—from 5.6 to 4.6 per cent—is Norway. 

According to the EEA, growth can be attributed to increased demand for organic products and political support, but, at the same time, this is not enough and even risks weakening: “In 2023, ten Member States recorded an annual decline compared to 2022, the highest figure since 2012.” For the EEA, since the strategies of the European Green Deal set the target of allocating at least 25 per cent of the EU’s agricultural area to organic by the end of the decade, “the pace will have to more than double in the remaining years until 2030 to reach the target” and “the mere willingness of current policies to “increase the quota” will not be sufficient.” So much so that “it is highly likely that the Green Deal target will not be met by 2030” because “the evolution of demand for organic products has become more unstable since 2022 and current policy support alone is not sufficient” to achieve it. In particular, the data show that the compound annual growth rate from 2012 to 2023 was 5.7 per cent. While reaching 25 per cent by the end of the decade would require more than double that, or 12.7 per cent, for the period 2023–2030, for “the conversion of 3.26 million hectares of land per year and 22.8 million hectares in total from 2023 to 2030.”

The Agency recalls that organic farming—the rules of which are outlined in the 2018 Production and Labelling of Products Regulation—produces food using natural substances and processes; avoids or greatly reduces the use of synthetic chemicals; applies high animal welfare standards; and excludes the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). For the EEA, “it has benefits for biodiversity, soil health and water quality,” supporting “an inclusive green transition in agriculture” and facilitating generational change: in the EU, in 2020, at least one manager under the age of 40 was present in approximately 21 per cent of organic farms, but only in 12 per cent of conventional farms. 

In addition to the initiatives of the European Green Deal, in particular the “Producer to Consumer” and “EU Biodiversity 2030” strategies, the “Vision for Agriculture and Food” presented last February also confirms the importance of continued support for organic farming. And in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy, Member States have planned to increase the area devoted to organic farming, which receives support from the CAP, to around 10 per cent of the total utilised agricultural area in 2027. However, in 2024, the Court of Auditors reported gaps in EU and national policies for the organic sector. Therefore, the agency notes that, to reach the 2030 target, “more strategic and targeted measures are needed,” while “accelerating the development and implementation of clear policies with higher levels of ambition must support a radical transformation of food production and consumption.”