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

The North East consists of County Durham, Northumberland, Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear. It is one of the smallest of the English regions in both area (8,573 km2) and population (2.5 million). Whilst two thirds of the region is rural, a third is designated as a National Park (Northumberland and part of the North York Moors) or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (North Pennines and the Northumberland Coast).

The food and drink sector in the North East comprises in excess of 1,500 organisations. Collectively these firms generate an annual turnover of £3.5bn employing some 45,000 people. Food and drink processing is a leading employer in the region's manufacturing sector employing about 20,000 people.

The North East has seen significant growth in organic producers in recent years and the regional total now stands at 102. Fully organic land in the Northeast covers an area of 30,823 hectares (ha), while in-conversion land accounts for another 7,005ha (Defra, 2005). The total agricultural area in the region (organic and non-organic) is 587,108ha.

Further information:

» North East Organic Programme provides support in north east region of England
» Organic action plan consultation meeting - North East provisional outcomes [PDF, 93 KB]
» The state of the organic sector in the North East [PDF, 258 KB]
» Organic statistics in the North East 2007 [PDF, 3,263 KB]
» Organic statistics in the North East 2006 [PDF, 3.3 MB]