Income development on organic farms

"It's the economy, stupid!" – Bill Clinton's legendary saying also applies to organic farming. Whether farmers invest in their organic farm or conventional farmers consider converting to organic farming depends decisively on what farm income is generated or achievable.

Incomes remain higher than for conventional farms

The incomes of organic farms are compared with the incomes of comparable conventional farms with similar locations and resource endowment. For the year 2021/22, the data of 446 organic farms (out of 567) could be compared with 1,862 conventional farms in the German FADN sample. The average income of the organic farms was around 3,460 euros higher than that of the conventional comparison group. While the organic farms included in the comparison earned on average 42,607 euros, the income of the conventional comparison farms was 39,147 euros.

It is striking that there are large differences in success within the organic farms. This is true both with regard to the different farm types and within the farm types studied, i.e. arable farming, dairy cattle, other forage production and mixed farming.

The most important results are summarised in the report "Analysis of the economic situation of organic farms in the economic year 2021/22".