Organic production in Catalonia tops €800 million in annual turnover

In a year marked by the pandemic, organic production closed 2020 with more certified land, more organic operators and higher turnover, confirming "organic food as the great sustainable alternative and the future of the agri-food world", said David Torrelles, chair of the Catalan Council for Organic Agricultural Production (CCPAE), at the press conference presenting the 2020 organic production results. 

Organic crop area reached 257,000 hectares, 12% more than the previous year. In fact, the organic crop area has doubled in 6 years, which shows the sector's strength, especially during the health crisis.

About half of this area is in the province of Lleida, which grew by 18.8% in 2020. The largest increase was in vineyards at 27.51%, followed by fruit trees (+18.01%) and pasture, meadows and forage (+11.94%). Fallow land, green manure and wasteland (+9.48%) and nut crops (+7.79%) also grew substantially.

The positive trend has also had an impact at business level, with turnover of organic farm products of €808 million in 2020, 15.83% more than the previous year. Registered operators also rose by 8.39% on the previous year, to 4,496. By type of activity, the increase in crop producers stands out, up 12.92%, and importers, up 8.2%. Processors grew by 5.05%, marketers by 3.16% and livestock producers by 2.54%.

Catalonia, a leader in organic agri-food activities

Catalonia is the region with the most processing, marketing and importing operators and has held this position since the organic sector first developed in Spain. All categories are generally rising, but the strongest growth is in food packaging and labelling (+22.5%), tea and coffee processing and packaging (+13.64%), marketing and/or distribution (+10.81%) and the production and/or bottling of wines, cavas and sparkling wines (+10.37%). "Organic production has shown that the transition towards more sustainable food systems is a reality and also represents an enormous opportunity", said the Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, Teresa Jordà.

Last year saw the end of the Programme for promoting organic agri-food production in Catalonia 2015-2020, with a new action plan to continue promoting organic agri-food production. Minister Teresa Jordà highlighted this firm commitment to further growing the output, knowledge and consumption of organic agri-food products, particularly through the new 2021-2027 organic agri-food production action plan.