Organic Farming and Market Development in Europe and the European Union

In this chapter, the 2016 data on the organic sector in Europe and the European Union are summarized. The development of the European and the European Union’s organic sector in 2016 was characterized by two trends. On the one hand, the market showed a double-digit growth rate again (11.4 percent in Europe; 12 percent in the European Union). On the other hand, organic farmland growth continued to be slower than that of the market, but it was considerably faster than in the previous years, increasing by 6.7 percent in Europe and 8.2 percent in the European Union. The trend of the market growing at a faster rate than the area (Figure 68) has been occurring for several years, showing that production is still not keeping pace with consumer demand