The World of Organic Agriculture. Statistics and Emerging Trends 2018

Organic agriculture is practiced in 178 countries, and 57.8 million hectares of agricultural land are managed organically by approximately 2.7 million farmers. The global sales of organic food and drink reached almost 90 billion US Dollars in 2016, according to Ecovia Intelligence. The 19th edition of The World of Organic Agriculture, published by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and IFOAM – Organics International, provides a comprehensive review of recent developments in global organic agriculture. It includes contributions from representatives of the organic sector around the world and provides comprehensive organic farming statistics that cover the area under organic management, specific information about land use in organic systems, the number of farms and other operator types, and selected market data. The book also contains information about the global market for organic food, information on standards and regulations, organic policy, and insights into current and emerging trends in organic agriculture in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Oceania. In addition, the volume contains reports about the organic sector in Australia, Canada, Ukraine, the Pacific Islands, and the United States of America and brief updates for various countries in Asia as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. The book also includes an article about organic cotton and a chapter reviewing key commodities certified by selected Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS)