Canary engaged 6.154 acres to organic farming.

El Hierro is the island with the largest area for organic farming.

Canary has a total of 1.310 green operators and 6.154 hectares of surface destined for organic production. This was indicated by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and waters of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, who stressed that the evolution of the cultivated area and the number of ecological operators in recent years in the Archipelago is very positive.

According to data from the 31 December of 2015, El Hierro is the island with the largest area directed to this production system with 3.995 hectares; followed by Tenerife, with 1.023; La Palma, with 368; Gran Canaria, with 332; Lanzarote, with 255; Fuerteventura, with 157; and La Gomera, with 24.

In 1991 The Canary Islands had 39 hectares of ecological and in 1996 with 344. A year later, this figure amounted to 4.367, surface that has been gradually increasing, although of 2009 to 2012 there was a decrease in surface area but not in operators, that fluctuated between just over 800 and 900 and a litle more. On the other hand, in the year 2013 there was a considerable increase in the surface when going from 3.146 hectares to 6.271.

This year, For the course 2013-2014, was launched too the Canarian School Eco-Eaters program, a project that started in seven centers, one on each island, with 54 ecoagricultores/as y 1.104 diners and in which today a total of 40 centers, 120 farmers and more than 8.500 diners from all the islands.

The first data on the number of operators that the Canary Institute of Agri-Food Quality has (ICCA) It's of 2003, with 600, a figure that has practically doubled.

Because ecological farming systems incorporate variables that do not intervene in conventional production systems (increase in biodiversity, improvement and maintenance of natural soil fertility, development of sustainable production systems ... etc.) and that must be considered in order to estimate the final cost of the product / food, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and waters of the Canary Islands, through the Canarian Institute of Food Quality (ICCA) and in collaboration with the University of La Laguna (ULL), has started to perform a study on the real cost of this type of products in the framework of the Ecocomedores program.

To carry out the study, a coordination team consisting of professors from the Faculty of Economics has been established., Business and Tourism; of the Higher School of Agricultural Engineering; the technicians and the coordinator of the advisory service of the ecocomedores program; and an agricultural extension technician from the Cabildo de La Palma.

The analysis will be open to all eco-farmers participating in the Canarian School Eco-Eaters project and to other leading organic producers on the islands.. In addition, to extend the scope, will work with traditional farmers.

This information is very valuable, since previous analyzes suggest that, although during the conversion to an ecological producer the expense increases, once stabilized, for some crops the production costs can be reduced compared to the traditional product, something that would increase both the surface and the consumption.