?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Europe&rft.creator=Willer%2C+Helga&rft.creator=Richter%2C+Toralf&rft.subject=Europe&rft.description=Since+the+be+ginning+of+the+1990s%2C+organic+farm+ing+has+rapidly+developed+in+almost+all+European+countries.+Growth+has%2C+however%2C+slowed+down+recently.%0D%0A%0D%0AAccording+to+the+Swiss+Research+Institute+of+Or+ganic+Agriculture+FiBL%2C+by+the+31.12.2002+in+the+15+countries+of+the+European+Union+(EU)%2C+around+4.8+million+hectares+were+man+aged+organically+by+al+most+140%2C000+farms.+This+constituted+3.5+percent+of+the+agricultural+area+and+2+percent+of+the+farms+in+the+EU.%0D%0A%0D%0AAccording+to+the+SOEL-statistics+in+the+whole+of+Europe+cur+rently+5.6+mil+lion+hect+ares+are+managed+or+gani+cally+by+ap+prox+imately+175%2C000+farmers.%0D%0A%0D%0ACompared+to+the+previous+year%2C+this+is+an+increase+of+9+percent+in+the+organic+land+area+in+the+EU%2C+mainly+due+to+a+strong+growth+in+France%2C+Spain+and+the+UK.+The+number+of+farms+went+down%2C+however%2C+mainly+due+to+a+decrease+in+organic+farms+in+Italy.%0D%0A%0D%0AThere+are+also+sub+stantial+differ+ences+between+indi+vid+ual+countries+re+gard+ing+the+importance+of+organic+farm+ing.+More+than+11+percent+of+ag+ricultural+land+is+organic+in+Austria%2C+and+10+percent+in+Switzerland.+Some+countries+have+yet+to+reach+one+percent.%0D%0AThe+coun+try+with+the+highest+number+of+farms+and+the+greatest+number+of+hectares+is+Italy.+One+quarter+of+the+European+Union%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s+organic+land+and+more+than+one+third+of+its%0D%0Aorganic+farms+are+located+here.%0D%0A%0D%0AA+complete+overview+of+the+statistical+development+of+the+organic+sec+tor+since+the+1990s+is+available+at+the+homepage+of+the+Or+ganic+Cen+tre+Wales+at+www.organic.aber.ac.uk%2Fstats.shtml.&rft.publisher=International+Federation+of+Organic+Agriculture+Movements+IFOAM)%2C+DE-Bonn&rft.date=2004&rft.type=Book+chapter&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Forgprints.org%2F1916%2F1%2Fwiller-richter-2004-europe.pdf&rft.identifier=Willer%2C+Helga+and+Richter%2C+Toralf+(2004)+Europe.+In%3A+Willer%2C+Helga+und+Yussefi%2C+Minou+(2004)+The+World+of+Organic+Agriculture+-+Statistics+and+Emerging+Trends+2004.+International+Federation+of+Organic+Agriculture+Movements%2C+DE-53117+Bonn%2C+International+Federation+of+Organic+Agriculture+Movements+IFOAM)%2C+DE-Bonn%2C+pp.+93-117.&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Forgprints.org%2F1916%2F