What is Organic Centre Wales (OCW)? OCW is the national resource for consumers, farmers and policy makers committed to more sustainable food and farming in Wales. Set up in 2000, it delivers projects to support and develop the organic sector. About the Centre.

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Welsh organic farming statistics: production

For a full report on Welsh organic farming statistics compiled in 2011 from 2010 data supplied by Defra, see Organic agriculture in Wales: 2010. The main figures are summarized below.

Organic area and holdings

At the end of 2010, about 8% of Welsh agricultural land was fully organic or in conversion. This is a higher proportion than in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The area under organic management increased by more than 50% during 2006-10, but the area under conversion fell during 2010, producing an overall drop in the organic/in conversion area of 2%.

At the end of 2010 there were 1003 organic farms in Wales (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Welsh organic holdings and organically managed land area

Organic producers and processors

Organic processors include importers, abattoirs, bakers, stores and wholesalers and also some producers who do their own processing (for instance butchering on the farm). At the end of 2010 there were 163 processors, compared with 167 at the end of 2009, which compares favourably with the rest of the UK.

Table 1. Numbers of organic producers and processors by UK region, 2010

UK region	No. organic producers only	No. of producer/processors	No. of processors only	Total	% change 2009/2010
UK	4741	208	2338	7287	-3.7
England	3001	172	1958	5131	-2.8
Wales	1003	29	134	1166	-0.9
Scotland	533	6	198	737	-10.1
Northern Ireland	204	1	48	253	-13.7

Source: Defra

Organic cropping

Beef and sheep farming dominate Welsh organic production, and some 85% of organic land in Wales is given over to permanent grassland. The remainder is split between temporary grass (6%) and arable crops (8%). Although less than 0.5% of the land is in horticulture, a relatively high proportion of this is organic.

Table 2. Welsh organic area by land use, 2006-2010

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	% change 2009/2010
Cereals	2144	2361	3002	3591	3191	-11%
Other arable	1557	1618	3164	3428	3317	-3%
Potatoes	99	96	99	45	38	-15%
Horticulture	244	322	362	432	379	-12%
Total tillage	4044	4397	6627	7495	6926	-8%
Temp grass	10564	11286	10125	9904	9474	-4%
Total arable land (inc temp grass)	14608	15683	16752	17399	16399	-6%
Permanent grass/rough grazing	63103	78976	95961	104024	102464	-1%
Woodland/other	1262	1206	1679	2200	2229	1%
Total organic area	78973	95865	114393	123623	121093	-2%

Figure 2. Changes in Welsh organically managed area, 2006-2010

Organic livestock

According to 2010 certification data, organically managed beef and dairy cattle account for about 5% of all cattle in Wales, and 4% of sheep are organic. There were 38,000 laying hens, representing 3.6% of the total in Wales, and 100-300 Welsh organic breeding sows. See Table 3 and Figure 3 below.

Table 3: Welsh fully organic and in-conversion livestock numbers, 2010

		Fully organic	In-conversion	Total organic	All Wales	Organic % of All-Wales
All cattle		46975	5065	52040	1129968	5%
	Dairy cows	9821	2657	12478	274412	5%
	Beef cows	9989	1541	11530	236690	5%
All sheep		342302	15798	358100	8237737	4%
	Ewes	163718	13344	177062	3995871	4%
All poultry		252220	298	252518	7250598	3%
	Laying hens	38389	16	38405	1072666	4%
	Table birds	104387	280	104667	5568433	2%
All pigs		690	1	691	22303	3%
	Sows	332	0	332	3010	11%
Other livestock		2432	20	2452	(No data)	-

Figure 3. Welsh organic livestock numbers 2006-10