Accredited official statistics

Organic farming statistics 2024: United Kingdom

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 the UK for 2024. A detailed breakdown of organic farming in England 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 the UK

In 2024:

• 503 thousand hectares were farmed organically in the UK.

• 59% of UK organic land was in England, 26% in Scotland, 14% in Wales and 1.4% in Northern Ireland.

• Permanent pasture (including rough grazing) accounted for 62% of organic land in the UK, covering 311 thousand hectares.

• 10% of organic land in the UK was used to grow cereals (50 thousand hectares).

• 2.9% of cattle in the UK were reared organically.

• There were a total of 5,133 organic operators in the UK.

2. Organic land area

2.1 Land area farmed organically

In 2024, the UK had a total area of 503 thousand hectares of land farmed organically, an increase of 1.0% 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, the UK had 454 thousand hectares of fully organic land. This represents a decrease of 1.7% from 2023.

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

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

Year	In-conversion	Fully organic	Total
2015	21	501	521
2016	25	483	508
2017	33	485	517
2018	33	441	474
2019	28	457	485
2020	31	458	489
2021	42	465	507
2022	40	468	509
2023	36	462	498
2024	49	454	503

Notes:

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

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

Country	Area in-conversion	Fully organic area	Total organic area	Total area on agricultural holdings at June	Total organic area as % of June area
United Kingdom	49	454	503	16,848	3.0%
England	20	276	296	8,877	3.3%
Wales	2.3	66	68	1,775	3.8%
Scotland	27	105	132	5,155	2.6%
Northern Ireland	0.1	6.8	7.0	1,040	0.7%

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, the UK had 49 thousand hectares of land in-conversion. This constitutes an increase of 36% 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 9.7% of the total organic land in the UK. This was an increase of 2.5 percentage points from 2023.

Figure 2: Land in-conversion as a proportion of the total area farmed organically in the UK, 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 the UK from 2002 to 2024. The percentage of land in-conversion in the UK peaked in 2002, with the lowest percentage occurring in 2014. Since 2014, the area of in-conversion land has fluctuated but generally shows an upward trend.

3. Organic land use

3.1 Organic land use

Permanent pasture (including rough grazing) accounts for the biggest share of the organic area in the UK (62%), followed by temporary pasture (18%) and cereals (10%). The full breakdown of organic land use in the UK is shown in figure 3 and tables 2 and 3.

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

Use	Area
Permanent pasture (incl. rough grazing)	311
Temporary pasture	90
Cereals	50
Woodland	18
Other arable crops	12
Vegetables (incl. potatoes)	9.8
Unutilised & unknown	9.6
Fruit & nuts	2.2
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 the UK, 2021 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Use	2021	2022	2023	2024	Percentage change 2024/2023
Cereals	47	49	50	50	-0.1%
Other arable crops	11	11	11	12	7.3%
Fruit & nuts	2.4	2.3	2.2	2.2	-0.5%
Vegetables (incl. potatoes)	9.8	10	10	9.8	-4.0%
Herbaceous & ornamentals	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.6	25%
Temporary pasture	100	96	91	90	-1.8%
Permanent pasture (incl. rough grazing)	311	314	307	311	1.1%
Woodland	17	17	18	18	3.0%
Unutilised land	3.3	3.2	3.2	4.4	39%
Unknown	5.2	4.4	4.2	5.2	24%
Total	507	509	498	503	1.0%

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 the UK, 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	3.2	47	50	2,966	1.7%
Wheat	1.6	19	20	1,531	1.3%
Barley	0.6	5.1	5.7	1,194	0.5%
Oats	0.6	17	18	182	9.8%
Other cereals	0.5	6.2	6.7	59	11%
Other arable crops	1.3	11	12	1,049	1.1%
Sugar beet	0.0	0.3	0.3	103	0.3%
Fodder, forage & silage	1.0	9.3	10	94	11%
Maize, oilseeds & protein crops	0.2	1.0	1.2	852	0.1%
Fruit & nuts	0.1	2.1	2.2	31	7.3%
Vegetables	0.4	7.7	8.0	97	8.3%
Potatoes	0.1	1.8	1.8	118	1.5%
Herbaceous & ornamentals	0.1	0.5	0.6	10	5.8%
Temporary pasture	5.1	85	90	1,275	7.0%
Permanent pasture (excl. rough grazing)	23	216	239	5,865	4.1%
Rough grazing	13	59	72	3,511	2.0%
Woodland	1.7	17	18	939	1.9%
Unutilised land	0.8	3.6	4.4	[x]	[x]
Unknown	0.4	4.8	5.2	[x]	[x]
Total	49	454	503	[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 the UK the area of organically grown cereal crops decreased by 0.1% to 50 thousand hectares in 2024. Other arable crops increased by 7.3% to 12 thousand hectares. The area of organically grown vegetables (including potatoes) decreased by 4.0% to 9.8 thousand hectares in 2024.

Figure 4: Organic crops in the UK, 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 2018, the area of cereals increased steadily until 2023, following which there was small decrease in 2024. 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 the UK, 2024 (thousand head)

Livestock	Total organic livestock	Total livestock at June	Organic livestock as % of June livestock
Cattle	270	9,412	2.9%
For slaughter	120	3,682	3.3%
Dairy cows	48	3,209	1.5%
Other cattle	101	2,521	4.0%
Sheep	647	31,017	2.1%
Breeding females	353	14,882	2.4%
Other sheep	294	16,135	1.8%
Pigs	16	4,716	0.3%
Fattening pigs	10	4,295	0.2%
Breeding sows	1.7	327	0.5%
Other pigs	4.6	93	4.9%
Poultry	4,851	176,085	2.8%
Broilers	2,511	112,374	2.2%
Laying hens	2,174	41,863	5.2%
Other poultry	167	21,848	0.8%
Other livestock	7.3	[x]	[x]
Farmed deer	6.0	39	15%
Goats	1.2	109	1.1%
Horses	0.1	204	[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 7.1% to 270 thousand head. This represents 2.9% of the total herd in the UK.

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

Years	For slaughter	Dairy cows	Other cattle	Total
2016	99	81	116	296
2017	111	76	107	294
2018	116	88	120	324
2019	88	90	123	301
2020	122	60	122	304
2021	120	59	117	296
2022	122	57	119	299
2023	129	51	110	290
2024	120	48	101	270

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 6.5% to 647 thousand head and accounted for 2.1% of the total flock in the UK.

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

Years	Breeding females	Other sheep	Total
2016	431	410	841
2017	462	425	887
2018	447	380	827
2019	390	393	782
2020	400	332	731
2021	393	330	724
2022	385	349	734
2023	370	322	692
2024	353	294	647

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 29% to 16 thousand head and accounted for 0.3% of the total pig herd in the UK.

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

Years	Fattening pigs	Breeding sows	Other pigs	Total
2016	21	4.3	5.7	31
2017	25	5.2	8.7	39
2018	21	3.8	12	37
2019	21	3.4	9.9	34
2020	16	1.6	9.3	27
2021	21	2.9	7.8	32
2022	23	3.4	9.1	35
2023	15	2.0	5.7	23
2024	10	1.7	4.6	16

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 11% to 4.9 million birds and accounted for 2.8% of the total population in the UK.

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

Years	Broilers	Laying hens	Other poultry	Total
2016	1,574	1,135	112	2,821
2017	1,725	1,239	95	3,060
2018	1,879	1,413	89	3,381
2019	1,768	1,584	112	3,464
2020	1,708	1,981	97	3,786
2021	1,910	2,015	96	4,021
2022	1,577	2,005	83	3,665
2023	2,200	2,021	144	4,365
2024	2,511	2,174	167	4,851

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 5,133 producers and processors registered with the organic certification bodies in the UK, a decrease of 1.9% 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 the UK, 2015 to 2024

Years	Producers	Producers & Processors	Processors	Total
2015	3,429	173	2,454	6,056
2016	3,398	161	2,804	6,363
2017	3,465	144	2,977	6,586
2018	3,483	136	2,569	6,188
2019	3,494	123	2,512	6,129
2020	3,407	197	2,150	5,754
2021	3,401	205	2,126	5,732
2022	3,285	223	1,988	5,496
2023	3,193	223	1,814	5,230
2024	3,118	227	1,788	5,133

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 country, 2024

Country	Number of producers only	Number of producers and processors	Number of processors only	Total organic producers and processors
United Kingdom	3,118	227	1,788	5,133
England	2,112	180	1,549	3,841
Wales	467	25	78	570
Scotland	389	15	126	530
Northern Ireland	150	7	35	192

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 country, 2021 to 2024

Country	2021	2022	2023	2024	Percentage change 2024/2023
United Kingdom	5,732	5,496	5,230	5,133	-1.9%
England	4,296	4,103	3,882	3,841	-1.1%
Wales	693	663	639	570	-11%
Scotland	529	528	521	530	1.7%
Northern Ireland	214	202	188	192	2.1%

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.