Defra’s Statistics about organic farming in the UK provides annual information on organic crops and organic livestock produced in the United Kingdom, and the numbers of organic producers or processors who are registered with Organic Certification Bodies in the UK.
The key results are:
The total area of in conversion and organic land in the UK continued to decrease. Areas fell by 24% and 3.9% respectively to 24 thousand hectares of in conversion land and 551 thousand hectares of organic land during 2013.
The decline in the UK’s populations of organic cattle, sheep and pigs decreased in 2013, while the number of organic poultry increased by 1.2%. Organic sheep and pig numbers both fell by 13% to 1million and to 30 thousand head respectively. The number of organic cattle fell by 2.4% to 283 thousand.
The number of organic producers and processors has fallen for the fifth year in a row (by
6.4%) to around 6 100 at the end of 2013. Nearly all of the UK’s regions have shown decreases with Wales and Scotland showing the largest percentage declines of 16% and 9.8% respectively. The only part of the UK to see an increase was the South East, including London, where the number of organic operators rose by 0.7%.
For more information click here
See also ORC’s English Organic Producer Survey Report released.
