More businesses, more land and more animals: the number of organic farms in this country is growing.
Farmers in Germany are increasingly relying on organic farming or animal husbandry. Last year, around 28,700 companies operated according to organic farming standards. That was 10 percent more than in 2020, as the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced. More than one in ten agricultural businesses (11 percent) rely on organic farming. At the same time, the number of businesses with organic animal husbandry rose by 11 percent to 19,200. The proportion of the total 161,700 animal-keeping businesses was 12 percent.
As the number of farms increases, more agricultural land is farmed organically. An increase of 16 percent to 1.85 million hectares was recorded here in 2023. The share of the total agricultural area of 16.6 million hectares rose to 11.2 percent.
With an average of 66.7 hectares per farm, organic farms have an area that is almost identical to the average farm with 65.0 hectares.
The most organic areas were in Bavaria with 423,000 hectares (23 percent of the organic areas), followed by Brandenburg with 228,400 hectares and 199,700 hectares in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Cattle and chickens dominate organic animal husbandry. The number of cattle kept organically rose by 10 percent to 949,300 animals. The share of the total cattle population was 9 percent. The proportion of organically raised chickens in the total population rose to 7 percent. Last year, 10.38 million chickens were kept organically in 5,600 farms.
Source: Stern
