I NUMERI CHE CONTANO - Il biologico “Made in Italy” continua a crescere in superfici e operatori

L’agricoltura biologica in Italia continua a vivere un momento particolarmente positivo con numeri in crescita, anche se le indicazioni sul clima di fiducia delle aziende pongono qualche interrogativo che vale la pena considerare. È quanto emerge dal rapporto “Bio in cifre” curato da ISMEA (Istituto di Servizi per il Mercato Agricolo Alimentare), che indica nel 2023 un incremento del 4,5% della Superficie Agricola Utilizzata (SAU) biologica rispetto all’anno precedente, mentre il numero di operatori (produttori, trasformatori, importatori) è cresciuto dell’1,8%. Ma vediamo, nel dettaglio, i contenuti del rapporto, giunto alla sua ventesima edizione.

THE NUMBERS THAT COUNT - “Made in Italy” organic continues to grow in surfaces and operators

Organic agriculture in Italy continues to experience a particularly positive moment with growing numbers, even if the indications on the climate of trust among companies raise some questions that are worth considering. This is what emerges from the "Organic in figures" report edited by ISMEA (Institute of Services for the Agricultural and Food Market), which indicates a 4.5% increase in organic Used Agricultural Surface (SAU) in 2023 compared to the previous year, while the number of operators (producers, transformers, importers) grew by 1.8%. But let's see, in detail, the contents of the report, now in its twentieth edition.

Almost a fifth of the national SAU is grown organically

The 2023 data referring to the national organic SAU, also thanks to the measures of the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC), record, overall, a further development reaching 2.5 million total hectares. The Italian organic surface area thus represents approximately one fifth of the overall surface area (19.8%), approaching the objective of 25% of organic UAA to be achieved by 2030 set by the European Commission as part of the Farm to Fork Strategy.

Meadows and arable land grow, fruit and vineyards decline

Considering both the areas already converted and those in conversion, the national organic UAA is composed first of all of arable land (42.1%), followed by meadows and pastures (29.7%), permanent crops (22.8%), vegetables ( 2.5%) and fallow land (3%). In 2023, the most significant increase affected the categories of meadows and pastures (+10.1% compared to 2022), which grew by 67,014 hectares, and arable land (+3.4%) for over 34 thousand more hectares. Vegetables (+1%) and permanent crops (0.1%) were substantially stable, but with negative variations, in the latter category, for vines (-2%), citrus fruits and fruit, compensated by increases for olive tree (+2.2%) and nuts (+6.8%). 

In national fruit there was a decline in almost all items. The negative trend of apples and pears continues (-7 and -2 percent), to which has been added the decrease in areas cultivated with apricots (-34%), peaches (-14.1%) and kiwis (-17, 9%). Even among citrus fruits, the organic orange grove loses 15.5%.

Southern Italy is leading, but the Center and North are recovering

At a territorial level, the report highlights that the national organic SAU is 58% in the South, 25% in the Center and 17% in the North of the country. Precisely the North (+5.5%) and the Center (+5.3%) recorded the greatest growth on an annual basis, recovering ground compared to the South (+3.9%), where, however, the increase occurred of 53 thousand hectares, the most significant.

Piedmont first region in the North

In 2023, 39% of the national organic SAU is concentrated in Sicily, Puglia and Tuscany and a further 30% is divided between Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Sardinia and Lazio. In the remaining regions, which overall account for just over 30%, significant increases were seen in Umbria (+18.2%), Abruzzo (+15.2%), Basilicata (+10.7%), Liguria (+10.4%). %), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+5.9%), Marche (+5.7%) and Piedmont (+5.4%), the latter in first place among the Northern regions for certified hectares (57,567) .

Intensive crops slow down organic development

Moving on to consider how much the organic surfaces affect the total agricultural surfaces, we range from 37.5% in Tuscany and 36.3% in Calabria, to 3.2% in Valle d'Aosta and 5.5% of Lombardy. The North is even further "behind" on the path towards organic farming, probably also due to the greater incidence of intensive crops carried out with conventional methods or with other models of sustainable agriculture.

In Europe with 4 countries 60% of organic

If we broaden our gaze to Europe, in 2022 the four largest countries in terms of certified surface area (France, Spain, Italy and Germany) held a total of 9.7 million hectares (+360,063 hectares, +3.8% compared to 2021), equal to over 60% of the organic SAU of the European Union.

Organic farms in “swing”

Not very comforting signals are coming from the breeding world which, even in the organic sector, is roughly following the decline in the number of animals in total livestock farming. For example, the positive evolution of the organic poultry sector emerges (+658,068 heads, +10.7%) and the number of cattle is also growing (+17,025 heads, +3.8%). The pig, goat and sheep sectors are of the opposite sign, which on an overall level are affected by a decrease in the number of animals. Organic pigs fell by 16.8% year-on-year, with 54,591 units. The number of goats recorded a negative decline (-7.5%), while sheep recorded a decline of 5.7%, which is in addition to the long-term reduction.

In terms of the incidence of organic livestock on the total, the most representative categories remain goats (10.8%), sheep (8.9%) and cattle (8.7%). The poultry sector has also seen an increase in the weight of organic animals out of the total, while the share of organic pigs (0.7%) is very low.

Almost 100 thousand organic operators in Italy

Focusing on operators engaged in organic farming, the ISMEA Report highlights an annual increase in operators of 1.8% in 2023, reaching 94,441 units, with an overall increase of 1,642 units over 2022. For all categories of operators, however, modest increases were observed, with the exception of importers, who were down by some units.

Exclusive producers are the largest category (73.7% of the total), growing by 1,032 units (+1.5%) compared to 2022, while the positive trend of producers/preparers is confirmed (+532 units and +3 ,8%). Finally, exclusive preparers have a more moderate growth. The rapid growth of producers/preparers (15.4% in 2023) could be proof that the integration of the two activities leads to an economic advantage.

It should be underlined that 89% of the total organic operators are made up of agricultural companies (exclusive producers, preparatory producers and producers with import and preparation activities) and the incidence of this category is higher in the southern regions than in those of the North, which instead see a greater presence of operators involved in transformation (exclusive preparers) and import.

Average farm size close to 30 hectares

The average size of Italian organic farms in 2023 is just over 29 hectares, almost triple that of Italian agricultural companies which, according to the latest Agricultural Census, is around 11 hectares. The weight of organic farms on total farms is equal to 7.4%.

Confidence in organic companies declining

Finally, we come to the climate of trust elaborated by the "Organic in figures" report on a sample of 800 conventional and organic agricultural companies: if, at the beginning of the year, the certified companies were more optimistic than the conventional ones, in the second half of 2023 we observe a marked loss of trust on the part of organic companies themselves. The minus sign (-4.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023) indicates a prevalence of companies expressing a negative opinion regarding the contingent and future company situation. The factors are innumerable, but it is likely to imagine that this finding is due to a market for organic products which shows difficulties both in consumer values ​​and in the sales prices recognized to organic farms, not very different from those of conventional ones. The context is then aggravated by the adverse climatic events that have affected various areas of the country, making operations in the countryside, especially for organic companies, more onerous and difficult even in agronomic management.