The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), on the occasion of the European Organic Day, presented the official statistics of the organic farming sector for the year 2021, elaborated from the data sent by the autonomous communities.

With regard to crop production, the increase in hectares dedicated to permanent crops (+18%) stands out, especially nuts (+35%), bananas and subtropical crops (+25%), citrus fruits (21%) and olive groves (16%). Within arable crops (+15%), there was a growth in plants harvested green for animal feed (+39%).

In terms of animal production, organic livestock farms increased to 9,247 (+20% compared to the previous year). In particular, increases occurred in sheep (+24%), cattle (+22%), goats (+15%) and pigs (+15%). Livestock numbers increased mainly in cattle (+20%), sheep (+17%), pigs (+11%) and goats (+9%).

Organic aquaculture reduced its production to 4,891 tonnes (-35%), but mussel production stands out with 2,806 tonnes. The number of aquaculture farms decreased by -4% to 167.

The number of operators increased by 16% compared to 2020 and now stands at 58,485. This increase occurred in almost all activities: producers (19%), processors (12%) and traders (7%). If one considers that the same operator can carry out several different activities, the total number of activities reached 62,320, an increase of 16.87% over the previous year.

Industrial processing activities grew by 5% to 10,920. Plant production reached 9,436, including the handling and preservation of fruit and vegetables and beverage production. Animal production rose to 1,484, particularly the meat and milk industry.

Statistics on organic production 2021 are available at the following LINK

Source: MAPA - Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación