Organic, a passion worth over a billion in turnover

Organic, a vital sector for Italian agriculture. This emerges from the report "Organic, guaranteed well-being", produced by Aiab, Coldiretti and Legambiente and distributed on the occasion of the biodomeniche.

The numbers for the sector are positive: over 1.5 billion in turnover for Italian organic farming, on a cultivated area of 1.09 million hectares, thanks to which Italy ranks third in the world ranking for the percentage of land devoted to organic farming.

Indeed, while there are about 37 million hectares cultivated in Italy, organic areas represent just over 3% of the total.

The operators in the sector are also growing: +1.3% compared with 2010, reaching 48,269 operators. And it is the regions of the South where organic businesses flourish: Sicily and Calabria above all. In the processing of organic products, on the other hand, Emilia-Romagna leads the way, together with Lombardy and Veneto.

Consumption of organic products is also rising positively, with consumption increasing by almost 9% on an annual basis. And although fruit and vegetable products remain the most purchased (and therefore see lower growth than other products), it is eggs that are the organic food recording the largest increase in organic consumption, followed by dairy products and confectionery, but also beverages, mainly non-alcoholic ones.

The Italian organic consumption market is made up 70% of the regions of the North, but it is precisely in the southern regions that 2011 recorded growth of almost 20% in organic consumption.