# Organic farms

A map of a former edition of the Atlas of Switzerland, the national atlas published by ETH Zurich. It opens only in the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS, not in the web atlas; see the links below.

- Map: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/organic-farms/
- Map id: 771
- Categories: Economy and Energy › Farming › Jobs and Farms
- Keywords: Agriculture, Animals, Economy, Food products, Labour, Landscape, Nature conservation
- Published: 2020-06-19
- Last revised: 2022-02-09
- Content language: English
- Other languages: [Deutsch](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/de/thema/biologische-landwirtschaftsbetriebe.md), [Français](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/fr/theme/exploitations-agricoles-biologiques.md), [Italiano](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/it/tema/aziende-agricole-biologiche.md)

## Description

In 2019, there were 50,038 farms registered in Switzerland, which is 1.6% fewer than in 2018. In the long term, this trend shows how the Swiss agricultural industry is in a constant state of flux. Almost one-third of farms have disappeared over 20 years and the utilised agricultural area has shrunk by 2.6%.
At the same time, however, farms have grown in size due to mergers. As a result, the proportion of farms with an area of over 20 hectares amounted to 43% in 2019, as opposed to only 25% in 1999. More and more farms are turning to organic farming. In 2019, 7,284 farms operated in accordance with organic guidelines, which is 3.6% more than in 2018.
150,100 people were employed on farms in 2019, which marks a decline of 1.5% in comparison with the previous year. 12% of these were foreign nationals. A large proportion (55%) of the workforce was part-time and more than three-quarters were family members.

## Sources

- FSO (2020): Farm structure census 2019. Neuchâtel

## Data sources

- Atlas der Schweiz: Administrative Einheiten 1:1 Mio. (Gemeinden, Bezirke, Kantone)
- Atlas of Switzerland: [Administrative Einheiten 1:500.000 (Gemeinden, Bezirke, Kantone)](http://www.atlasderschweiz.ch/)
- FSO (2020): Farm structure census 2019. Neuchâtel
- swisstopo [J160089] (2010): [Gemeindegrenzen GG25](https://shop.swisstopo.admin.ch/de/products/landscape/boundaries3D)
- swisstopo [J160089] (2010): [Landeskarte 1:500.000](https://shop.swisstopo.admin.ch/de/products/maps/national/lk500)

## Data owners

- [Atlas of Switzerland (AoS)](http://www.atlasderschweiz.ch/)
- [Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO)](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/)
- [Swiss Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo)](http://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/)

## Citation

The terms of use ask to name the Atlas of Switzerland and the data owners, and to keep the source references in exports, screenshots and embeds. Cite the map as:

> Atlas of Switzerland (2022): Organic farms. ETH Zürich. Map data © AoS, FSO, swisstopo. https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/organic-farms/

## Links

- Map page, with the description and sources and a button that opens the map in the desktop atlas: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/organic-farms/
- Open the map in the desktop atlas (version 4), where it is installed: adsglobe://map/771
- Download of the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/ads4-download/

For the use and citation of maps and data, see the [terms of use](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/terms-of-use/).