This is the latest book in an annual series, started in 2000, on the statistics of organic growing around the world. It covers the main agricultural crops (cereals, grassland, rice, oils), horticultural crops (fruits, nuts, coffee, vegetables) and aquaculture (salmon, carp, shellfish). Chapters cover the current statistics and their sources, standards and regulations, the producers and their markets.

Data have been collected from a variety of sources (state agricultural ministries, research institutes, certification organizations) from 138 countries covering 30 million hectares and 700 000 farms. A common additional source to growing on cultivated land is the harvesting of fruit from the wild. The quantity and quality of the data have improved year-on-year.

The first international standards were published by the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements in 1980, followed by those from the European Union in 1991 and the National Organic Program from the USA in 2002. The 1999 Codex Alimentarius was amended in 2001 to include livestock production. Besides the international agreements, there are a number of national and private standards with bilateral recognition between supplier and market.

Data are presented continent by continent (Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australasia) for organic land areas, numbers of farms and crop types. The main production areas are in the developing countries, from where most of the crops are exported to North America and Europe, the major consumers.

The book is well presented with a large number of tables and a good analysis of the data and developing trends, and is a valuable single source.