Organic farming in figures

According to official data, at the end of 2022, 36,912 farms in Germany were operating according to organic farming standards, on a total of about 1.83 million hectares. The share of organically farmed land in the total agricultural area comes up to 11 percent, and the share of organic farms in all farms is 14 percent. Compared to 2021, the organically farmed area has grown by about 3 percent (BMEL 2023).

From very small to very large

The average organic farm manages almost 50 hectares, however there is a very wide range within the organic farms. The group of organic farms includes farms with special crops such as wine on a few hectares of arable land or farms with suckler cows on over 1,000 hectares. The latter are mainly at home in the eastern federal states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on rather sparse sites dominated by grassland.

The importance of organic farming varies from region to region

The importance of organic farming varies considerably from region to region. In 2022, the relative share of land ranged from nearly 21 percent in Saarland, nearly 17 percent in Brandenburg and Hesse to about 6 percent in Lower Saxony. In absolute terms, the focus of organic farming is in southern and north-eastern Germany: in 2022, 415,528 hectares in Bavaria and 203,592 hectares in Baden-Württemberg were farmed organically; in Brandenburg the organic area comes up to 217,410 hectares and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to 199,694 hectares. These four federal states account for more than half (nearly 56 percent) of the organically farmed area in Germany (BLE 2023).

Reasons for regional differences

Organically farmed areas are mainly located in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, followed by Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In these states in particular, but also nationwide, organic farming is practiced primarily on lower-yielding sites with a high proportion of permanent grassland. Land rents tend to be low there and extensive farming is relatively common. These conditions facilitate conversion to organic farming, which avoids the use of mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides. The yield reductions and economic losses associated with conversion to organic farming are therefore comparatively lower than for intensively managed farms on high-yield sites.

Interesting insights into the regional situation of organic farming in Germany are provided by the contributions of Alvermann and Timm: Ökolandbau regional – Bio2030 Mitmach-Tagungen.