Austria boasts the world’s second-highest proportion of organic farmland relative to its size, according to a recent study.

The report The World of Organic Agriculture 2024, from the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, revealed that in 2022 – the most recent year with reliable data – 27.5% of Austria’s farmland was certified organic, placing it second globally behind Liechtenstein, which had 43%. Estonia came third with 23.4%.

The findings highlight that in 2022, nearly 96.4 million hectares of the world’s agricultural land were organic. The regions with the largest areas of organic agricultural land were Oceania (53.2 million hectares, constituting more than half of the global total at 55%) and Europe (18.5 million hectares, representing 19%).

The report also notes that organic food and drink sales totaled nearly €135 billion in 2022. The countries with the highest organic market share as a percentage of the total market were Denmark (12%), Austria (11.5%), and Switzerland (11.2%). Switzerland also recorded the highest per capita annual consumption of organic food and drink, at €437, with Austria ranking third at €274.

Last year, Vienna’s municipal food brand, Wiener Gusto, which produces flour, lentils, and meat, earned the Austrian capital the EU’s Best Organic City award.