Organic land in Wales - the picture in 2003:

Organically managed land in Wales has experienced considerable growth since 1999. The total organically managed land area accounted for 54,306 hectares in April 2003, with 76 per cent in fully organic production (41,381 ha) and 24 per cent in conversion (12,925 ha). This was comprised from 618 licensed organic farms, in addition to 103 registered processors or importers (abattoirs, wholesalers, manufacturers, fresh produce packers etc) – a total of 721 Welsh organic businesses.

How much organic land is there in Wales?  

As an increasing area of land has entered into conversion in Wales – the two-year period required for conventional land to become fully organic – organically managed land has increased from 5,331 ha in April 1999 to 54,306 ha in April 2003, growth of over 900 per cent

• In comparison, organically managed land in the UK rose by just 200 per cent from 240,000 ha to 726,400 over the same period 

• Organic land now accounts for 3.4 per cent of total Welsh agricultural land, compared to only 0.3 per cent in 1998     

These figures, published by the Soil Association, are shown alongside figures from Defra, which both indicate a similar trend for organic land in Wales, see Figure 1 and Figure 2 respectively:     

• In Wales, whilst the growth in fully organic land has continued in recent years, the total organically managed land area saw a decline of 6.5 per cent from 58,100 ha in April 2003 to 54,306 ha in April 2003 

• This accompanied a parallel change in the UK organically managed land area, which fell by 0.4 per cent, or 3,150 ha

This apparent anomaly could be explained by a number of producers applying to join the Welsh Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) in early 2002 and becoming certified, whilst a number of farmers subsequently decided not to follow through with the application. This would result in an apparent drop in the total organic land area. There is evidence to suggest that this was caused by long delays in processing OFS applications for the and farmers waiting for the outcome of CAP reforms before committing themselves to organic farming, thus bringing about a temporary ‘flattening’ of the land area figures. OFS data indicates that there has been a continuing uptake of organic farming in Wales, with around 9,200 ha entering the scheme during 2002/03, suggesting that there is a sustained interest in organic farming in Wales despite this temporary ‘blip’.

 Table 3 confirms that Welsh farmers are still interested in farming the organic way, since there were 179 new enquiries to the Organic Conversion and Information Service in Wales during 2002/03.  

 Which counties have the most organic land in Wales?

• The county with the largest area of organic land is Powys, containing 12,353 ha, just under one-quarter of all Welsh fully organic land – see Table 2
• Over 50 per cent (28,501 ha) of fully organic land lies within the western counties of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Gwynedd, with the remaining 26 per cent (14,247 ha) scattered in the smaller counties.

Further sources of organic farming statistics:

• Organic land area statistics for the UK are also published annually by the Soil Association Organic Food & Farming Report (April figures) and the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) (December and March figures)
• To find out more, contact the Soil Association, 0117 914 2400, www.soilassociation.org or Defra, http://statistics.defra.gov.uk.  For Defra’s March 2003 organic statistics, click here.

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Figure 1 Growth in organically managed land in Wales (hectares), 1999 to 2003 (Soil Association, April figures)

Source: Soil Association Organic Food & Farming Report 2003 

Figure 2 Growth in organically managed land in Wales, 1995 to 2003 (Defra, December figures)  

Table 1. Organic producers, processors and land area in Wales, April 2003

Source: Defra Statistics Department, 2003

Table 2 Distribution of organically managed land by county, April 2003

Source: Defra Statistics Department, 2003

Table 3 Total number of Organic Conversion and Information Service (OCIS) enquiries in the UK, 2000/01 to 2002/03

Source: Soil Association Organic Food & Farming Report 2003

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