Organic farming, Slovenia, 2006

The number of agricultural holdings with organic farming kept increasing, but the number of newly registered agricultural holdings in conversion showed a downward trend

After 2001, when the number of agricultural holdings with organic farming increased by 180%, this number has been slowly increasing, even though the annual increase kept decreasing from year to year (from 50% in 2003 to 10% in 2006). The number of newly registered agricultural holdings oscillated, but after the jump to 255 in 2003 it remained between 120 and 170.

Utilised agricultural area with organic farming represents a small share that increases slowly


Utilised agricultural area with organic farming in 2005 represented only 3,17% and in 2006 only 4.11% of total utilised agricultural area. The major share was in the category permanent grassland, which represented 4.87% of all grassland in 2005 and 6.50% of all grassland in 2006. The area of vegetables and strawberries dropped from 3.81% in 2005 to 2.23% in 2006, while the area of orchards increased from 2.94% in 2005 to 4.31% in 2006.

The highest share of utilised agricultural area with organic farming in both years was under grassland (over 90%). Arable land represented about 5%, vegetables and strawberries were grown on 0.70% of the area in 2005 and on 0.36% in 2006. Orchards represented about 2%, vineyards about 0.20% and olive groves about 0.02% of total utilised agricultural area with organic farming. It is obvious that the organic crop production was mainly meant for feed in organic livestock production, which on the other hand did not represent the organically produced meat on the market as Slovenia has not yet introduced organic slaughterhouses.

From 2006 on, the same trend is expected due to the easy change to organic production of grass and high subsidy, which will even increase in the next years.