The challenge of collecting and publishing data on organic agriculture worldwide

Summary

Globally, organic farming continues to grow and, in many countries, has reached wide acceptance amongst farmers, consumers, market actors, policymakers, and the public. According to the latest available data (per 31.12.2014), 43.7 million hectares are under organic agricultural management, and this constitutes almost one percent of the global agricultural land; the global market is estimated to be 80 billion USD (Willer & Lernoud 2016). These data, which are mostly based on national data sources, are annually compiled by FiBL, which has been collecting and publishing data on organic agriculture worldwide since 2000. They are widely used and quoted by governments drawing up action plans for organic agriculture; researchers; market actors; market research companies, and the media.
However, with the collection of these data, there are challenges, including data gaps and incomplete data, issues related to definitions, classifications, data quality, and data access. Based on the work of the European research project OrganicDataNetwork, suggestions for the improvement of organic data at national level and in Europe have been made (Zanoli 2014). This paper highlights latest data and trends, illustrates current challenges and good examples, and makes recommendations related to data collection on organic agriculture based on the European experience.