The Organic Action Plan for this region will be launched soon.

The Yorkshire and Humber region has a mostly urban-based population of about five million. Nevertheless, 75% of the land in the region is managed by agriculture. The large conurbations in the region mean there are potentially large markets for much of the region's agricultural production. In addition, 27% of the region's land is subject to national landscape and nature conservation designations – the highest percentage of any English region.

Agriculture in Yorkshire has undergone significant change over the last ten years with a trend towards larger specialised farm units, particularly in the dairy and pig sector. Agricultural Census Statistics clearly demonstrate the diverse nature of agriculture in the region. However, the most common non-organic farm types are those classified as 'grazing livestock – lowland' (13.7%), 'grazing livestock – less favoured area' (11.5%) and 'cereals' (14.4%), excluding those classified as 'other' (Defra 2004). The region has a wide variety of organic production although the eastern side of the region has more arable and vegetable production than the west (Defra workshop 2004).

Yorkshire and the Humber is also one of the UK's main food producing regions with over 1,100 food and drink processing companies. For example, almost 43,000 people are employed in the food and drink sector in North Yorkshire in a region with the UK's largest concentration of food research and production facilities. The region as a whole accounts for 12% of the UK's total employment in the food and drink industry – the second highest concentration of employment outside of the Southeast (including London). In addition, supermarket giants Asda and Morrisons both have headquarters in Yorkshire.

In terms of organic significance the Yorkshire and Humber region accounts for approximately 3.2% (140) of all UK organic producers (4,343). Organic land in the region covers an area of 10,681ha (of which 2,113 is in-conversion) – some 1.7% of a total of 631,144ha in the UK (Defra, 2006).

Further information:

» Yorkshire & Humber Organic Action Plan [PDF, 884 KB]
» Yorkshire Organic Centre Evaluation Report (February 2008)
» Yorkshire Organic Centre was established in 2003 - it covers the Yorkshire and Humber region
» Organic action plan consultation meeting - Yorkshire & Humber provisional outcomes [PDF, 93 KB]
» The state of the organic sector in Yorkshire & Humber [PDF, 270 KB]
» Organic statistics in Yorkshire & Humber 2007 [PDF, 3,269 KB]
» Organic statistics in Yorkshire & Humber 2006 [PDF, 3.3 MB]