Development of organic agriculture in the EU
07/31/2007
Many changes have taken place in the organic sector since the enlargement of the European Union has taken place in 2004. Eurostat has published a report to give an overview of the current state. Organic cultivation has progressed in most states. Organic processing, however, has not been developed much yet. In 2005, 6.1 million hectares of land were managed organically, which equals to 4 % of the total agricultural area in the EU. This was a slight increase compared with 2003, when the rate accounted for 3.7 %. In Italy, 18 % of the land was cultivated organically, followed by Germany and Spain with a share of 14 % respectively. The Czech Republic had the highest share (4 %) of the countries which joined the EU in 2004.