The area devoted to organic production in Spain increased by 8% in 2021 compared to the previous year, to 2,635,442 hectares, which means its utilised agricultural area (UAA) devoted to organic production is 10.79%. These data, which are provisional until EUROSTAT publishes the final figures, confirm the growth trend over recent years and, in terms of surface area, make Spain one of the main organic producers in the European Union (EU) and, indeed, the world.

These results are included in the Organic Production statistics for the year 2021, which the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) has published on its website, coinciding with the celebration of International Organic Day, and which it prepares based on data sent by the regional governments.

In terms of crop production, there was a notable increase in hectares devoted to permanent crops (+18%), especially nuts and dried fruit (+35%), bananas and subtropical crops (+25%), citrus fruits (+21%) and olive groves (+16%).. With respect to arable crops (+15%), there was an increase in plants harvested green for animal feed (+39%).

In terms of animal production, the number of eco-livestock activities increased to 9,247 livestock farms (+20% compared to the previous year), which were made up of sheep (+24%), cattle (+22%), goat (+15%) and pig (+15%) farms. The number of livestock also increased, especially cattle (+20%), sheep (+17%), pigs (+11%) and goats (+9%).

Organic aquaculture production decreased to 4,891 tonnes (-35%), including the production of 2,806 tonnes of mussels. The amount of aquaculture farms decreased by -4% to 167.

The number of operators increased by 16% compared to 2020, standing at 58,485. This increase occurred across almost all activities: primary producers (19%), industrial establishments (12%) and traders (7%).

If we take into account the fact that the same operator can carry out several different activities, the total number of activities amounted to 62,320, an increase of 16.87% compared to the previous year.

Eco-registered industrial activities grew by 5% to 10,920. Vegetable production activities amounted to 9,436, including fruit picking [UdW1]  and canning, and the production of beverages. Animal production activities rose to 1,484, especially in the meat and dairy industry.

^{Organic Production 2021 statistics can be viewed using the following links:
https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/alimentacion/temas/produccion-eco/estadisticas_pe_2021_definitivo_web_tcm30-628192.pdf
https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/alimentacion/temas/produccion-eco/tablasproduccionecologica_2021_tcm30-628194.xlsx
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA)
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