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| Global Organic Agriculture: Continued Growth |
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02/18/2009
IFOAM and FiBL present new facts and figures about organic agriculture worldwide at the BioFach World Organic Trade Fair 2009 in Nuremberg, Germany |
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(Bonn, Frick, Nuremberg, February 18, 2009) The
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and
the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) will present the
latest statistics about organic agriculture worldwide at BioFach 2009.
The results of the study titled ‘The World of Organic Agriculture:
Statistics and Emerging Trends 2009’ will be presented at the world’s
largest trade fair for organic products on Friday, February 20th 2009,
at 10 a.m. in Room Shanghai of the Messezentrum Nürnberg. |
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32.2 million hectares are certified according to organic standards
(data as at the end of 2007). “Compared to the data of the previous
survey, 1.5 million hectares more were reported”, says Helga Willer of
FiBL. “At the level of the geographical regions, growth was strongest
in Latin America and Africa.”
“The growth in developing
countries shows that organic agriculture can contribute to meaningful
socio-economic and ecologically sustainable development, especially in
poorer countries,“ notes Diane Bowen, IFOAM’s Interim Executive
Director.
With its vast grazing lands, Australia continues to
account for the largest certified organic surface area, 12 million
hectares, followed by Argentina (2.8 million hectares), and Brazil (1.8
million hectares). The greatest share of the global organic surface
area is in Oceania (37.6 percent), followed by Europe (24.1 percent)
and Latin America (19.9 percent). In terms of certified land under
organic management as a proportion of national agricultural area, the
Alpine countries, such as Austria (13.4 percent) and Switzerland (11
percent), top the statistics. The global market for organic products
reached a value of over 46 billion US Dollars in 2007, with the vast
majority of products being consumed in North America and Europe,
according to Organic Monitor.
"Policy makers in developing
countries need to know the number of farmers involved in organic
agriculture as well as its challenges and development potential
globally. This type of information is difficult to find but is
crucially important to help support the sector's development. ‚The
World of Organic Agriculture’ provides a unique and important global
service in this regard," says Alexander Kasterine, Senior Market
Development Officer at the International Trade Centre.
The
results of the study ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’ are presented
for the tenth consecutive year at BioFach. In addition to the chapter
on organic agriculture worldwide, the book contains completely revised
reports about the emerging trends in the geographical regions as well
as background information on issues like standards and legislation,
food security or the activities of UN organizations. The study includes
comprehensive data sets and numerous illustrations and graphs. Further
data are available at the newly launched www.organic-world.net
homepage.
Since 2008, support has been provided by the Swiss
State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO), within the framework of
its support activities for organic production in developing countries
and by the International Trade Centre (ITC). NürnbergMesse has
supported the performance of the global survey and production of the
yearbook, carried out by IFOAM, FiBL and the German Foundation Ecology
& Agriculture SÖL, since 2000.
Media enquiries during BioFach (February 19-22) should be directed to:
- Dr.
Helga Willer , Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Tel. +41
(0)79 2180626, E-mail helga.willer@fibl.org, www.fibl.org
Contact
- Dr.
Helga Willer and Lukas Kilcher, Research Institute of Organic
Agriculture FiBL, Ackerstr., 5070 Frick, Switzerland, Tel. +41 (0)79
2180626, E-mail helga.willer@fibl.org, www.fibl.org
- Diane
Bowen, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
(IFOAM), Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 5, D-53113 Bonn, Germany, Tel. +49 228
9265010, headoffice@ifoam.org, www.ifoam.org
- Dr. Alexander
Kasterine, International Trade Centre (ITC), UNCTAD/WTO, Rue de
Montbrillant, 54-56, 1202 Geneva 10, Switzerland, Tel. +41 22 7300-111,
Kasterine@intracen.org, www.intracen.org/organics
- Barbara Böck,
NürnbergMesse, Messezentrum, 90471 Nürnberg, Germany, Tel. +49 911 8606
8328, barbara.boeck@nuernbergmesse.de, www.biofach.de
Book info
Helga Willer and Lukas Kilcher (Editors) (2009):
The
World of Organic Agriculture - Statistics and Emerging Trends 2009.
IFOAM FiBL Report. IFOAM, Bonn, FiBL, Frick and ITC, Geneva. 304 pages
Printed
copies (25 Euros + postage) of ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’ can
be ordered from FiBL, IFOAM and ITC at shop.fibl.org, www.ifoam.org and
www.intracen.org/eshop/welcome.asp. Electronic copies (20 Euros) are
also available there.
ISBN IFOAM 978-3-940946-12-6; ISBN ITC 92-9137-364-8; ISBN FiBL 978-3-03736-036-4
Data sets and graphs
Graphs and data sets (Excel) are available at www.organic-world.net.
The
book contains the user name and password for the internal area of the
website www.organic-world.net, where additional extensive data sets are
provided.
Download of this press release
This press release is available at http://www.fibl.org/en/media.html |
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