Organic Olive Cultivation Increasing Worldwide

The organic land area used for olive cultivation across the world has almost tripled since 2004.

Organic olive grove in Italy
By Isabel Putinja
Apr. 3, 2019 14:47 UTC
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Organic olive grove in Italy

Agricultural land used for olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion has been steadily increasĀ­ing each year and has almost tripled in area since 2004, accordĀ­ing to an annual surĀ­vey of global organic agriĀ­culĀ­ture.

The twenĀ­tiĀ­eth ediĀ­tion of the World of Organic Agriculture report proĀ­vided a detailed overview of the state of organic agriĀ­culĀ­ture across the world.

Using data from 181 counĀ­tries, the surĀ­vey revealed that 2017 (the last year for which data was availĀ­able) was a record year for global organic agriĀ­culĀ­ture.

See Also:Organic Olive Oil News

Not only has the area of organic farmĀ­land increased across the world, so has the numĀ­ber of organic proĀ­ducĀ­ers, while the organic retail marĀ­ket conĀ­tinĀ­ues to grow in size.

Agricultural land dedĀ­iĀ­cated to organic proĀ­ducĀ­tion now covĀ­ers about 173 milĀ­lion acres of the earthā€™s farmĀ­land and is culĀ­tiĀ­vated by 2.9 milĀ­lion farmĀ­ers. The amount of organic proĀ­duce sold worldĀ­wide repĀ­reĀ­sented a total value of $97 bilĀ­lion in 2017.

The surĀ­vey also proĀ­vides insights into which crops are culĀ­tiĀ­vated on organic agriĀ­culĀ­tural land. Nearly 2.2 milĀ­lion acres of the worldā€™s organic farmĀ­land was used for olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion in 2017. This has increased almost threeĀ­fold from 778,000ā€Æacres in 2004, when data on how cropĀ­land is used was first colĀ­lected.

Twenty perĀ­cent of the worldā€™s total organic agriĀ­culĀ­tural land was used for olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion, accordĀ­ing to the report. Olives fall under the catĀ­eĀ­gory of perĀ­maĀ­nent crops, which along with dry pulses and vegĀ­etaĀ­bles expeĀ­riĀ­enced growth of more than 15 perĀ­cent comĀ­pared to the preĀ­viĀ­ous year.

In 2017, 8.3 perĀ­cent of the earthā€™s olive groves were under organic proĀ­ducĀ­tion.

A closer look at the detailed geoĀ­graphĀ­iĀ­cal data revealed that almost 70 perĀ­cent of the worldā€™s organic olive groves are in Europe, folĀ­lowed by North Africa with nearly 30 perĀ­cent ā€“ almost entirely (99 perĀ­cent) in Tunisia.

Tunisia is actuĀ­ally the counĀ­try with the largest organic land area dedĀ­iĀ­cated to olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion, with more than 629,000ā€Æacres. This is folĀ­lowed by Italy with 570,000ā€Æacres and Spain with 480,000ā€Æacres, while Turkey with 202,000ā€Æacres and Greece with 124,000ā€Æacres folĀ­low in fourth and fifth place.

Figures preĀ­sented in the surĀ­vey reveal other interĀ­estĀ­ing facts as well: 15.5 perĀ­cent of Tunisiaā€™s olive groves are organic, comĀ­pared to only eight perĀ­cent in Spain, the worldā€™s largest olive proĀ­ducer.

A closer look at France, one of the worldā€™s smaller proĀ­ducĀ­ers, showed it has the largest share of organic olive groves: 27.3 perĀ­cent of its olive proĀ­ducĀ­tion is cerĀ­tiĀ­fied as organic. Organic culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion is also big in Slovenia and Italy, where slightly more than 20 perĀ­cent of olive groves are organic, while Cyprus comes in at fifth, after Tunisia, with 14.6 perĀ­cent.

Coming back to Tunisia, it also stands out as the counĀ­try with the largest organic agriĀ­culĀ­tural area in Africa, with 757,000ā€Æacres. In 1999, it was the first African counĀ­try to put in place an organic regĀ­uĀ­laĀ­tion while adoptĀ­ing a national proĀ­gram to increase organic proĀ­ducĀ­tion. In the past 10ā€Æyears, it has seen an increase in organic exports and Tunisia is one of 10 counĀ­tries that expeĀ­riĀ­enced the highĀ­est increase in organic agriĀ­culĀ­tural land in 2017.

Europe has expeĀ­riĀ­enced a 92 perĀ­cent increase in organic olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion in the past 10ā€Æyears. Only 10 perĀ­cent of its total organic perĀ­maĀ­nent cropĀ­land is used for olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion, but it is still the conĀ­tiĀ­nent with the largest organic land area used for olives: 1.46 milĀ­lion acres of cropĀ­land are covĀ­ered in organic olive groves.

In Africa, this comes to 635,000ā€Æacres, almost all of which is in Tunisia, while in Latin America 64,000ā€Æacres are used for organic olive culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion. Organic olive groves in Asia cover nearly 41,000ā€Æacres, while in North America the area is a modĀ­est 1,800ā€Æacres.

Cropland dedĀ­iĀ­cated to the organic culĀ­tiĀ­vaĀ­tion of olives is conĀ­tinĀ­uĀ­ing to grow globĀ­ally. There was an 8.3 perĀ­cent increase between 2016 and 2017, and this is bound to conĀ­tinue increasĀ­ing as 18 perĀ­cent of agriĀ­culĀ­tural land used for olives is curĀ­rently in conĀ­verĀ­sion and on the way to becomĀ­ing fully organic.





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