Atlas of Organics: Four maps of the world of organic agriculture

Summary

This paper presents four maps of the world of organic agriculture. Density equalising maps (cartograms) have previously been published of the world of organic agriculture based on the reported hectares of certified organically managed agriculture land. The four maps in the present atlas of organic agriculture are visual presentations of current global organics data: (a) certified organic agriculture hectares; (b) certified organic wildculture hectares; (c) total certified organic production hectares (organic agriculture plus wildculture plus forestry plus aquaculture); (d) certified organic producers. Australia dominates in the world map of the organic agriculture hectares, Europe is strongly represented, and Africa is weakly represented. Finland dominates in the world organics map of organic wildculture, Zambia is a strong representative from Africa, and India is a strong representative from Asia. Australia dominates in the map of the organics world map of total organic production hectares (the aggregation of agriculture, wildculture, forestry, and aquaculture), followed by Finland. India dominates in the world organics map of organics producers. The maps illustrate the broad global diffusion of the organics meme, visually highlight leaders and laggers, and indicate opportunities for growth and better reportage. These maps are generated by the Worldmapper GIS algorithm developed at the University of Sheffield as a cartographic visualisation tool.