Organic Agriculture 2015

“The world map of organic agriculture hectares accounts for 43,095,884 hectares of organic agriculture land reported for 170 countries and territories. The map is dominated by the presence of Australia which appears especially bloated, and this reflects its world leadership position in terms of its number of organic agriculture hectares (17,151,000 ha, which is 39.8% of the world total).
Europe accounts for 11,460,773 ha, which is 26.6% of the world total. Europe collectively has a strong presence with substantial contributions from many states, with organic agriculture leaders including: Spain (1,610,129 ha), Italy (1,317,177 ha), France (1,060,756 ha), Germany (1,060,669 ha), Poland (661,956 ha), UK (567,751 ha), Austria (526,689 ha), Sweden (500,996 ha), the Czech Republic (474,231 ha), and Turkey (461,396 ha) (Willer & Lernoud, 2015).
South America has a strong presence accounted for in large measure by three countries, Argentina (3,191,255 ha), Uruguay (930,965 ha), and Brazil (705,233 ha).
China and India dominate the Asian representation (2,094,000 ha and 510,000 ha respectively). Collectively Asia accounts for 8.0% of world organic agriculture hectares. North America accounts for 7.1% of world organic hectares with USA reporting 2,178,471 ha and Canada 869,239 ha.
Africa has an eviscerated presence (accounting for just 2.8% of the world organic agriculture hectares), with Uganda the organics leader of the continent with 231,157 ha. Russia appears anorexic, and the Middle East is emaciated, in each case reflecting the poor diffusion of organic agriculture into these regions – and perhaps the great opportunities for future organic penetration into these territories. The map presence of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) reflects their recent commitment to the adoption of organics and the newfound status of the Falkland Islands as a current world leader with 36.3% of its agricultural land classified as organic.” (modified from Paull & Hennig, 2016)