Consumer interest in organic agricultural produce cannot be denied, either in the USA or the EU-28, which saw two-figure market growth between 2014 and 2015 according to FiBL. However, cultivation areas are not following suit! According to this same body, the world organic citrus cultivation area levelled out at just over 70 000 ha between 2014 and 2015, after seeing a drastic fall of more than 10 000 ha between 2013 and 2014. It is once again the number 1 enemy of world citrus growing, namely greening, which is to blame. Surface areas withered away in Cuba (from 4 200 ha in 2009 to 230 ha in 2015), while the other citrus growing giants of the Americas also suffered, with the cultivation area going from approximately 12 000 ha to 7 400 ha in Mexico between 2014 and 2015, and from 7 500 ha to 4 000 ha in the USA between 2013 and 2015. This will crank up the tension on the US market. The European market seems better off. The Mediterranean, its main supplier, has a vast cultivation area of more than 44 000 ha (62 % of world surface areas). Furthermore, surface areas registered high growth with the regional leaders, Italy (31 900 ha in 2015, + 10 000 ha since 2011), Spain (8 250 ha, + 2 500 ha since 2011) and Morocco (1 500 ha, + 1 000 ha since 2011).
Source: FiBL
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