UK organic farming area rises to 540,000 hectares in 2025
The UK expanded its organic farming area to 540,000 hectares in 2025, with land in conversion jumping 63% and pointing to further growth in the sector.
The UK government’s annual organic farming statistics show that the country’s organic sector expanded in 2025 after several years of mixed movement. According to DEFRA, 540 thousand hectares were farmed organically across the United Kingdom in 2025, an increase of 7.3% compared with 2024. The total covers both fully organic land and land that is still in conversion to organic status.
The composition of that increase matters as much as the headline figure. Fully organic land reached 461 thousand hectares, up 1.4% from 2024, while land in conversion climbed to 79 thousand hectares, a rise of 63% year on year. That lifted the share of in-conversion land to 15% of the total organic area, an important signal because it points to potential additional growth as those hectares complete the certification process.
Regional distribution remains uneven. England accounted for 56% of UK organic land, Scotland 31%, Wales 12% and Northern Ireland 1.2%. In absolute terms, that means about 301 thousand hectares in England, 168 thousand in Scotland, 64 thousand in Wales and 6.7 thousand in Northern Ireland. Organic land represented 3.2% of total agricultural land on holdings across the UK, with England, Wales and Scotland clustered near that level and Northern Ireland well below it.
Pasture remains the backbone of the organic land base. Permanent pasture, including rough grazing, covered 346 thousand hectares, equal to 64% of total organic land. Temporary pasture accounted for 93 thousand hectares, cereals for 50 thousand hectares, vegetables including potatoes for 10 thousand hectares, other arable crops for 9.8 thousand hectares, and fruit and nuts for 2.4 thousand hectares. Within cereals, the detailed tables show 21 thousand hectares of organic wheat, 5.2 thousand hectares of barley and 17 thousand hectares of oats.
The livestock and operator figures show that organic production remains significant but still niche within the wider British farm economy. DEFRA reported that 2.8% of UK cattle were reared organically in 2025, and the total number of organic operators reached 5,004. For the market, that suggests a broader supply base for organic raw materials and processing. For policymakers, the new figures indicate that after several years of fluctuation, the sector is once again growing in both area and participation.