In 2010, Croatia's organic area was 16,000 hectares to rise to almost 76,000 ha in 2015, a rise of 377 percent, according to figures provided by the European Union statistical office (Eurostat). Bulgaria saw a rise of 362%.
Over the five years. among the EU Member States, an upward trend was observed in all except two countries: the United Kingdom (– 29 %) and the Netherlands (– 4 %).
"The size of the organic area differs considerably from one EU Member State to another. Four Member States accounted for more than half of all organically farmed land in 2015: Spain (18 %), Italy (13 %) France (12 %) and Germany (10 %), together making up 53 % of the total EU-28 organic area. In 2014, these four countries represented 51 %, " the Eurostat reported.
"From 2010 to 2015 , the total organic area (i.e. fully converted and under conversion) as a percentage of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA) within the EU rose from 5.2 % to 6.2 %."
As for the the organic crop area as a percentage of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA) for 2015, in Austria, Sweden and Estonia, the share of organic area was over 15 %, while in the Czech Republic, Italy and Latvia it was over 10 % of the UAA. In the remaining EU Member States, the share of organic area range from 0.3 % in Malta to 10 % in Finland.
In Croatia this share stood at 4.9%.