Accredited official statistics

Organic farming statistics 2024: England

Published 8 May 2025

This release presents final estimates of the land area farmed organically, crop areas, livestock numbers and numbers of organic producers and processors in England for 2024. An overview of organic farming in the UK is available here. The results are produced from data compiled by approved organic certification bodies. The total organic area referred to is made up of fully organic land and organic land in-conversion.

The dataset for this release can be found on the organic farming statistics page.

1. Key findings for England

In 2024:

• 296 thousand hectares were farmed organically in England.

• The South West had the greatest share of organic land in England at 46%, the South East (incl. London) had the second largest at 15% and the West Midlands had the third largest at 11%.

• Permanent pasture (including rough grazing) accounted for 48% of organic land in England, covering 142 thousand hectares.

• 15% of organic land in England was used to grow cereals (43 thousand hectares).

• 4.0% of cattle in England were reared organically.

• There were a total of 3,841 organic operators in England.

2. Organic land area

2.1 Land area farmed organically

In 2024, England had a total area of 296 thousand hectares of land farmed organically, a decrease of 0.5% compared to 2023. The total area includes both the fully converted area and area under conversion.

Organic production comes from fully converted land, which is land that has undergone conversion to meet organic standards. In 2024, England had 276 thousand hectares of fully organic land. This represents a decrease of 1.0% from 2023.

Land in-conversion is discussed in detail in section 2.2.

Figure 1: Land area farmed organically in England, 2015 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Year	In-conversion	Fully organic	Total
2015	10	294	304
2016	15	282	297
2017	20	281	300
2018	20	269	289
2019	19	282	301
2020	20	281	302
2021	26	285	311
2022	20	293	312
2023	18	279	297
2024	20	276	296

Notes:

1. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Table 1: Area farmed organically by English region, 2024 (thousand hectares)

Region	Area in-conversion	Fully organic area	Total organic area	Total area on agricultural holdings at June	Total organic area as % of June area
England	20	276	296	8,877	3.3%
North East	1.7	24	26	581	4.4%
North West	0.9	11	12	893	1.4%
Yorkshire and the Humber	1.2	10	11	1,086	1.0%
East Midlands	1.4	13	14	1,165	1.2%
West Midlands	1.7	31	32	897	3.6%
East of England	2.8	17	20	1,417	1.4%
South East (incl. London)	2.9	41	44	1,119	3.9%
South West	7.0	130	137	1,720	7.9%

Notes:

1. Total land area on agricultural holdings at June, excludes common land.

2. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Source: June Survey of Agriculture as at 1 June 2024: Crops

2.2 Land in-conversion

Before an area can be considered fully organic, it must undergo a conversion process. In 2024, England had 20 thousand hectares of land in-conversion. This constitutes an increase of 6.9% from 2023.

The area in-conversion expressed as a percentage of the total organic area can give an indication of the potential growth in the organic sector. In 2024, land in-conversion made up 6.6% of the total organic land in England. This was an increase of 0.5 percentage points from 2023.

Figure 2: Land in-conversion as a proportion of the total area farmed organically in England, 2002 to 2024

Download the data for this figure

Text description of Figure 2: Figure 2 shows the area of land in-conversion as a proportion of total land area farmed organically in England from 2002 to 2024. The percentage of land in-conversion in England peaked in 2002, with the lowest percentage occurring in 2015. From 2015, the area of in-conversion land rose until 2018, since when it has fluctuated across the years.

3. Organic land use

3.1 Organic land use

Permanent pasture (including rough grazing) accounts for the biggest share of the organic area in England (48%), followed by temporary pasture (25%) and cereals (15%). The full breakdown of organic land use in England is shown in figure 3 and tables 2 and 3.

Figure 3: Organic land use in England, 2024 (thousand hectares)

Use	Area
Permanent pasture (incl. rough grazing)	142
Temporary pasture	73
Cereals	43
Woodland	12
Other arable crops	9.7
Vegetables (incl. potatoes)	8.1
Unutilised & unknown	6.4
Fruit & nuts	2.1
Herbaceous & ornamentals	0.6

Notes:

1. Some land areas are provided without a crop category or land use description, therefore these are classified as unknown.

Table 2: Organic land use in England, 2021 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Use	2021	2022	2023	2024	Percentage change 2024/2023
Cereals	40	43	43	43	0.5%
Other arable crops	8.7	8.6	9.3	9.7	5.3%
Fruit & nuts	2.3	2.2	2.1	2.1	-1.6%
Vegetables (incl. potatoes)	7.9	8.4	8.3	8.1	-2.7%
Herbaceous & ornamentals	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6	25%
Temporary pasture	79	77	74	73	-2.0%
Permanent pasture (incl. rough grazing)	154	156	144	142	-1.4%
Woodland	12	11	11	12	3.0%
Unutilised land	1.4	1.4	1.2	1.6	32%
Unknown	4.7	4.1	3.9	4.7	22%
Total	311	312	297	296	-0.5%

Notes:

1. Includes fully organic land and land in-conversion.

2. Some land areas are provided without a crop category or land use description, therefore these are classified as unknown.

3. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Table 3: Detailed fully organic and in-conversion land use in England, 2024 (thousand hectares)

Use	Area in-conversion	Fully organic area	Total organic area	Total area on agricultural holdings at June	Total organic area as % of June area
Cereals	2.7	41	43	2,450	1.8%
Wheat	1.5	17	19	1,402	1.3%
Barley	0.3	3.4	3.8	849	0.4%
Oats	0.4	14	14	148	9.6%
Other cereals	0.5	6.0	6.4	50	13%
Other arable crops	1.1	8.6	9.7	921	1.1%
Sugar beet	0.0	0.3	0.3	103	0.3%
Fodder, forage & silage	0.9	7.4	8.3	58	14%
Maize, oilseeds & protein crops	0.2	0.9	1.1	760	0.1%
Fruit & nuts	0.1	2.0	2.1	28	7.6%
Vegetables	0.2	6.5	6.7	73	9.1%
Potatoes	0.1	1.4	1.4	83	1.7%
Herbaceous & ornamentals	0.1	0.5	0.6	11	5.5%
Temporary pasture	4.6	68	73	820	8.8%
Permanent pasture (excl. rough grazing)	9.0	126	135	2,926	4.6%
Rough grazing	0.3	6.2	6.5	435	1.5%
Woodland	1.1	10	12	394	2.9%
Unutilised land	0.1	1.6	1.6	[x]	[x]
Unknown	0.3	4.5	4.7	[x]	[x]
Total	20	276	296	[x]	[x]

Notes:

1. Total land area on agricultural holdings at June, excludes common land.

2. Some land areas are provided without a crop category or land use description, therefore these are classified as unknown.

3. “[x]” indicates no comparable June survey data is available.

4. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Source: June Survey of Agriculture as at 1 June 2024: Crops

3.2 Organic crops

The three main crop types grown organically are cereals, other arable crops and vegetables (including potatoes). In England the area of organically grown cereal crops increased by 0.5% to 43 thousand hectares in 2024. Other arable crops increased by 5.3% to 9.7 thousand hectares. The area of organically grown vegetables (including potatoes) decreased by 2.7% to 8.1 thousand hectares in 2024.

Figure 4: Organic crops in England, 2002 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Notes:

1. Includes fully organic land and land in-conversion.

Download the data for this figure

Text description of Figure 4: Figure 4 shows the area of land, in thousand hectares, used to organically farm cereals, other arable crops and vegetables (including potatoes) from 2002 to 2024. Cereals have the highest area of organic farming, which peaked in 2009. From this peak, the organic area used to farm cereals declined until 2018, since when it has increased steadily year on year. Other arable crops and vegetables (including potatoes) have had similar areas of organic farming throughout the time series. Other arable crops peaked in 2002 and vegetables peaked in 2008.

4. Organic livestock

Table 4: Detailed organic livestock numbers in England, 2024 (thousand head)

Livestock	Total organic livestock	Total livestock at June	Organic livestock as % of June livestock
Cattle	197	4,980	4.0%
For slaughter	84	1,805	4.6%
Dairy cows	39	1,840	2.1%
Other cattle	75	1,335	5.6%
Sheep	282	13,831	2.0%
Breeding females	158	6,721	2.3%
Other sheep	125	7,264	1.7%
Pigs	15	3,680	0.4%
Fattening pigs	9.7	3,354	0.3%
Breeding sows	1.6	251	0.6%
Other pigs	4.2	74	5.6%
Poultry	2,549	128,581	2.0%
Broilers	1,149	87,924	1.3%
Laying hens	1,315	23,344	5.6%
Other poultry	85	17,313	0.5%
Other livestock	4.1	[x]	[x]
Farmed deer	3.0	21	14%
Goats	1.1	86	1.3%
Horses	[low]	129	[low]
Others	[low]	[x]	[x]

Notes:

1. Data relates to fully organic livestock only.

2. “Others” include camelids and any livestock not recorded elsewhere.

3. “[x]” indicates no comparable June survey data is available.

4. “[low]” indicates a value that is greater than zero, but shows as zero due to rounding. See the accompanying dataset for the unrounded value.

5. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Source: June Survey of Agriculture as at 1 June 2024: Livestock and the Cattle Tracing System for cattle populations

4.1 Organic cattle

In 2024, organically reared cattle numbers decreased by 6.7% to 197 thousand head. This represents 4.0% of the total herd in England.

Figure 5: Number of organic cattle in England, 2016 to 2024 (thousand head)

Years	For slaughter	Dairy cows	Other cattle	Total
2016	66	66	87	219
2017	76	61	80	217
2018	81	70	89	241
2019	59	71	91	221
2020	84	48	89	220
2021	82	47	85	214
2022	84	45	88	217
2023	92	40	80	212
2024	84	39	75	197

Notes:

1. Data relates to fully organic livestock only.

2. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

4.2 Organic sheep

The number of sheep reared organically decreased by 4.3% to 282 thousand head and accounted for 2.0% of the total flock in England.

Figure 6: Number of organic sheep in England, 2016 to 2024 (thousand head)

Years	Breeding females	Other sheep	Total
2016	212	194	406
2017	227	194	421
2018	213	161	374
2019	179	171	351
2020	183	129	312
2021	179	121	300
2022	173	139	312
2023	164	131	295
2024	158	125	282

Notes:

1. Data relates to fully organic livestock only.

2. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

4.3 Organic pigs

The number of pigs reared organically decreased by 27% to 15 thousand head and accounted for 0.4% of the total pig herd in England.

Figure 7: Number of organic pigs in England, 2016 to 2024 (thousand head)

Years	Fattening pigs	Breeding sows	Other pigs	Total
2016	20	4.1	5.3	29
2017	24	5.0	8.4	37
2018	15	3.4	11	29
2019	19	3.0	8.6	31
2020	13	1.6	9.0	24
2021	15	2.5	6.5	24
2022	16	2.9	7.7	26
2023	15	1.9	4.5	21
2024	9.7	1.6	4.2	15

Notes:

1. Data relates to fully organic livestock only.

2. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

4.4 Organic poultry

Organically reared poultry numbers increased by 9.3% to 2.5 million birds and accounted for 2.0% of the total population in England.

Figure 8: Number of organic poultry in England, 2016 to 2024 (thousand birds)

Years	Broilers	Laying hens	Other poultry	Total
2016	830	796	73	1,699
2017	1,033	912	57	2,002
2018	969	1,015	54	2,038
2019	911	1,104	57	2,072
2020	880	1,465	66	2,411
2021	1,074	1,412	64	2,550
2022	795	1,422	49	2,265
2023	919	1,346	68	2,333
2024	1,149	1,315	85	2,549

Notes:

1. Data relates to fully organic livestock only.

2. Totals may differ to the sum of the components due to rounding.

5. Organic operators

In 2024, there were 3,841 producers and processors registered with the organic certification bodies in England, a decrease of 1.1% from 2023. A detailed breakdown of organic crop and livestock operators is available in the dataset accompanying this release.

Figure 9: Organic operators by type in England, 2015 to 2024

Years	Producers	Producers & Processors	Processors	Total
2015	2,336	145	2,098	4,579
2016	2,302	132	2,414	4,848
2017	2,335	124	2,578	5,037
2018	2,327	113	2,196	4,636
2019	2,354	99	2,174	4,627
2020	2,264	165	1,878	4,307
2021	2,269	175	1,852	4,296
2022	2,202	176	1,725	4,103
2023	2,133	174	1,575	3,882
2024	2,112	180	1,549	3,841

Notes:

1. Processors can include abattoirs, bakers, storers and wholesalers. The recorded location depends on the address registered with the Certifier Bodies and so larger businesses may be recorded at their headquarters.
2. In 2018 work was carried out to clarify how operators were recorded. This resulted in a number of operators that were previously recorded as processors being recorded in the correct categories of wholesalers/traders/retailers etc. We were unable to backdate these changes so earlier data are not directly comparable.
3. In 2020 work was carried out by some control bodies to group existing operators together, so they effectively became ‘one operator’ whilst previously they may have been separate operators with separate licences.

Table 5: Number of organic operators by type and English region, 2024

Region	Number of producers only	Number of producers and processors	Number of processors only	Total organic producers and processors
England	2,112	180	1,549	3,841
North East	76	3	25	104
North West	103	11	117	231
Yorkshire and the Humber	89	7	90	186
East Midlands	140	5	116	261
West Midlands	281	21	117	419
East of England	161	13	218	392
South East (incl. London)	336	49	587	972
South West	926	71	279	1,276

Notes:

1. Processors can include abattoirs, bakers, storers and wholesalers. The recorded location depends on the address registered with the Certifier Bodies and so larger businesses may be recorded at their headquarters.

Table 6: Number of organic operators by English region, 2021 to 2024

Region	2021	2022	2023	2024	Percentage change 2024/2023
England	4,296	4,103	3,882	3,841	-1.1%
North East	118	112	109	104	-4.6%
North West	244	233	227	231	1.8%
Yorkshire and the Humber	216	198	183	186	1.6%
East Midlands	308	298	262	261	-0.4%
West Midlands	454	449	418	419	0.2%
East of England	412	407	404	392	-3.0%
South East (incl. London)	1,143	1,042	996	972	-2.4%
South West	1,401	1,364	1,283	1,276	-0.5%

6. About these statistics

6.1 Contact details

Email: organic-stats@defra.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 0330 041 6560
Public enquiries: 0845 601 3034

Mallard House
Kings Pool
1-2 Peasholme Green
York
YO1 7PX

6.2 Methodology and more information

For more information about these statistics and how they were produced, please see the about organic farming statistics page.