Australia leads the world
FOR the first time ever, a single country now accounts for more than half of the global certified organic agriculture hectares (Paull, 2019).
The latest world map of organic agriculture reveals that Australia has overtaken the rest of the world.
The latest global figures report that the world total of certified organic agriculture is 69.8 million hectares from a total of 181 countries. Of that total, Australia accounts for 35.6 million hectares, which is 51 per cent of the world total (Willer & Lernoud, 2019).
Organics data reveal that organic agriculture has been on a steady upward trend for the past two decades. Global organics has grown at 12 per cent per year over the past 20 years, whilst Australian organics has grown at 16 per cent per year in the same period.
Accelerated growth
For the past five years, the growth of organics in Australia has accelerated to 22 per cent per year. It is this growth spurt of Australian organics that has propelled Australia from the number one position in global certified organic agriculture hectares to now accounting for the majority of the total global organic hectares (Paull, 2019).
The global runner-up is Argentina, in second position, with 3.4 million certified organic hectares, followed by China with 3.0 million hectares, Spain with 2.1 million hectares, and the USA with 2.0 million hectares.
These are followed by Italy (1.9m ha), Uruguay (1.9m ha), India (1.8m ha), France (1.7m ha), Germany (1.4m ha), Canada (1.2m ha), and Brazil (1.1m ha). All other countries each report less than a million hectares of certified organic agriculture hectares.
Previous world maps of organics have appeared in the Atlas of Organics and have revealed Australia as leading the world in organic agriculture hectares, with Finland leading the world in organic wild hectares, and India leading the world in the number of organic producers (Paull & Hennig, 2016).
The present map shows the broad global uptake of organics. It reveals Europe as a leading region for organics, along with strong representation from Asia and South America. Africa is under-represented in the global organic agriculture statistics, hence its rather vestigial presence.
As the map reveals, the USA is an under-performer. Organic agriculture accounts for 0.6 per cent of the USA’s agricultural land, compared to 1.4 per cent of the
world’s agricultural land, and 8.8 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land.
Success story
Organic agriculture is a continuing success story for Australia. The sector has long been a quiet achiever, receiving little or no support from government, universities or institutions. Much of the recent growth has been from the growing global consumer demand for clean and green products, and especially for organic beef.
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of production methods, and sufficiently affluent to afford organic premium products. There is a growing army of discerning global consumers who are seeking to avoid a smorgasbord of pesticides and GMOs on their plate (GfK, 2017).
Australian government research reported that only 10 per cent of Australians regard GM food as safe and only 10 per cent support GM food and crops (Cormick & Mercer, 2017).
Around the world, the organics sector continues to have a zero- tolerance for GMOs and to be the champion of clean and green and smart food production. ☐
References:
Cormick, C., & Mercer, R. (2017). Community Attitudes to Gene Technology. Prepared for The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Canberra, (OGTR). Sydney: Instinct and Reason.
GfK. (2017). Decision Factors on What to Eat or Drink: Global GfK Survey (October 2017). London: GfK (Growth from Knowledge).
Paull, J. (2019). Organic Agriculture in Australia: Attaining the global majority (51%). Journal of Environment Protection and Sustainable Development, 5(2), 70-74. Paull, J., & Hennig, B. (2016). Atlas of Organics: Four maps of the world of organic agriculture. Journal of Organics, 3(1), 25-32.
Paull, J., & Hennig, B. (2018). Maps of Organic Agriculture in Australia. Journal of Organics, 5(1), 29-39.
Willer, H., & Lernoud, J. (Eds.). (2019). The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2019. Frick: Switzerland: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) & Bonn: IFOAM- Organics International.