RESEARCH ON THE EVOLUTION AND CURRENT STATE OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURE WORLDWIDE
I. Răducuţă, F. Doroftei
Abstract
Organic farming can be defined as a method of production which places the highest emphasis on environmental protection and animal welfare considerations. The purpose of this study was to analyze the evolution and current status of organic agriculture worldwide, with special reference to organic agricultural land, the share of organic agricultural land in total agricultural land, the number of organic producers, the use of organic agricultural land and the organic food market. To achieve these objectives we have studied the official statistical data, we calculated the percentage difference between the reference years and we interpreted data obtained. This study shows that organic agricultural land area in 2009 was 37.5 million hectares, being 3.55 times higher as compared with the existing area in 1999 and representing about 1% of the total agricultural area in the world. As regards the use of organic agricultural land in the world, it was found that in 2009 the largest part of them, namely 61.7% were occupied with permanent grasslands, 14.8% with arable land, 3.1% with permanent crops and 20.4% had other purposes. Also this study shows that in 2009 there were 1.8 million organic producers and the organic food market has tripled in the last ten years.
