The average Dutch farming family had an income of €82,000 in 2021, compared with €49,000 for the average household, according to new research by national statistics organisation CBS.

The CBS figures also show that organic farming incomes were some 10% higher than similar non-organic operations, with a household income of €90,000.

The difference probably lies in the higher prices that organic farmers can charge for their products and the fact they don’t spend money on animal feed and artificial fertilisers.

“It is a niche market and that could mean higher margins,” CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen told the Volkskrant.“Nor are there as many of them, which means less competition.”

The figures were boosted by the success of organic poultry and pig farms, and earnings on arable farms are lower. In 2021, non-organic arable farmers accounted for 7% of the country’s lowest-income households, but organic arable farmers were 1.5 times more likely than them to be poor.

Non-organic market gardeners, however, earned far more than their organic peers, with an average income of €111,000, compared with €88,000 for tomato and pepper growers who don’t use artificial pesticides and fertilisers.

Just 4% of Dutch agricultural land is certified organic, almost the lowest percentage within the EU, according to June figures from European statistics agency Eurostat.

While many EU countries are nearing the target of ensuring 25% of agricultural land is organic by 2030, growth in the Netherlands has stagnated, the Eurostat figures show. The Netherlands also has a lower target than the rest of the EU – just 15%.

By contrast, 27% of Austrian farmland and 23% of Estonian arable farms are organic, Eurostat said. The figures date from 2022.

In January, the CBS said the Netherlands now has 1,900 organic farms, a rise of 5% on 2015, but the number of hectares classified as organic is up 72% as farms expand in size. In addition, a further 200 farms were in the process of switching to organic production methods in 2023, the CBS said.