Definition: the share of the agricultural area used in organic farming in relation to the total agricultural area. “Organic production is an overall system of farm management and food production that combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources, the application of high animal welfare standards and a production method in line with the preference of certain consumers for products produced using natural substances and processes” (Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production; Official Journal of the European Union, 20/7/2007). The data come from Eurostat.

Goal: the share of land used for organic farming must increase.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 2.4: “By 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality".

The Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity of December 2022 has adopted new goals, among which "Ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably " (target 10, CBD, 2022).

For the European Union, the European Commission's Farm to Fork Strategy aims the objective of at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land under organic farming by 2030 (COM/2020/381 final; Official Journal of the European Union, 20/05/2020).

The Federal Long-Term Strategic Vision for Sustainable Development contains objective 28: “The social and ecological impact of our production and consumption patterns in terms of food will be considerably reduced” (Belgian Official Gazette, 08/10/2013).

International comparison: the share of land used in organic farming in relation to the total agricultural area evolves in a relatively similar way in the EU than in Belgium, but at a higher level (9.1% in the EU27 and 7.2% in Belgium in 2020). When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with average performance and is below the European average in 2020. In that year, Austria ranked first with 25.7% and Malta last with 0.6%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 2.4.1 - Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm (consulted on 24/09/2020).

  • CBD (2022), Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework, CBD/COP/15/L.25.

  • Official Journal of the European Union: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html?locale=nen (consulted on 24/09/2020).

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