Washington, D.C.---Despite a slight decline between 2009 and 2010, since
1999 the global land area farmed organically has expanded more than
threefold to 37 million hectares, according to new research conducted by
the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service (www.worldwatch.org).
Regions with the largest certified organic agricultural land in 2010
were Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island
nations (12.1 million hectares); Europe (10 million hectares); and Latin
America (8.4 million hectares), write report authors Catherine Ward and
Laura Reynolds.
Organic farming is
now established in international standards, and 84 countries had
implemented organic regulations by 2010, up from 74 countries in 2009. Definitions
vary, but according to the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements, organic agriculture is a production system that
relies on ecological processes, such as waste recycling, rather than the
use of synthetic inputs, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
"Although organic
agriculture often produces lower yields on land that has recently been
farmed conventionally, it can outperform conventional practices---especially in times of drought---when
the land has been farmed organically for a longer time," said Reynolds,
a researcher with Worldwatch's Food and Agriculture Program.
"Conventional agricultural practices often degrade the environment over
both the long and short term through soil erosion, excessive water
extraction, and biodiversity loss."
Organic farming has
the potential to contribute to sustainable food security by improving
nutrition intake and sustaining livelihoods in rural areas, while
simultaneously reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing
biodiversity. Sustainable practices associated with organic farming are
relatively labor intensive. Organic agriculture uses up to 50 percent
less fossil fuel energy than conventional farming, and common organic
practices---including rotating crops, applying mulch to empty fields, and maintaining perennial shrubs and trees on farms---also
stabilize soils and improve water retention, thus reducing
vulnerability to harsh weather patterns. On average, organic farms have
30 percent higher biodiversity, including birds, insects, and plants,
than conventional farms do.
Certifications for
organic agriculture are increasingly concentrated in wealthier
countries. From 2009 to 2010, Europe increased its organic farmland by 9
percent to 10 million hectares, the largest growth in any region. The
United States has lagged behind other countries in adopting sustainable
farming methods. When national sales rather than production are
considered, however, the U.S. organic industry is one of the
fastest-growing industries in the nation, expanding by 9.5 percent in
2011 to reach $31.5 billion in sales.
Sustainable food production will become increasingly important in developing countries, as the
majority of population growth is concentrated in the world's poorest
countries. Agriculture in developing countries is often far more labor
intensive than in industrial countries, so it is not surprising that
approximately 80 percent of the 1.6 million global certified organic
farmers live in the developing world. The countries with the most
certified organic producers in 2010 were India (400,551 farmers), Uganda
(188,625), and Mexico (128,826). Non-certified organic agriculture in
developing countries is practiced by millions of indigenous people,
peasants, and small family farms involved in subsistence and local
market-oriented production.
Further highlights from the report:
- In 2010, the most recent year for which data are
available, certified organic farming accounted for approximately 0.9
percent of the world's agricultural land.
- Africa is home to 3 percent of the world's certified
organic agricultural land, with just over 1 million hectares certified.
Asia has 7 percent, with a total of 2.8 million hectares.
- Despite a decline in organically
farmed land in China and India between 2009 and 2010, India's export
volume of organic produce increased by 20 percent.
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