Increase in organic farms and organic farming in Germany

These results emerge from the annual reports of the German states. The number of organically managed farms, 24,736, is an increase 5.7% compared to the previous year (2014: 23,398). With a surface of 1,088,838 hectares, the acreage increased with 3.9% (2014: 1,047,633 hectares).

The Federal Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt stated: "The number of farms and the area used for organic farming continue to rise. And the market is growing too. In 2015 the organic market showed a growth of more than eight billion Euros in sales, a clear upward trend. The figures show that organic products are increasingly popular, and organic farming is an important pillar of the German agriculture and food industry. It is my goal to advance the German organic agriculture. This is the reason why I initiated a future strategy for organic farming, and a revision of the Organic EU Regulation in Brussels, to strengthen the confidence of consumers as well as the organic food industry. The consumer must be able to rely on one thing: If it says organic, it should be organic.”

Last year the total share of organic farms was 8.7% (2014: 8.3%) and the total surface share was 6.5% (2014: 6.3%). And a total of 38,259 producers, processors, importers and trading companies operated in the organic sector in 2015.