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Farms and farm managers in Europe – the statistics



Across Europe – in the European Union member states – 171 million hectares of land was used for agriculture in 2016 – that’s 40% of the EU’s total land area. This land supported 10.3 million farms and farm managers. 

These were small farms – 65% of these farms were less than 5 hectares in size. Only 3% of farms were 100 hectares or more. 

Eurostat has just released these provisional statistics which it collects annually in the EU Farm Structure Survey. 

Where were the farms? One third (33%) of the farms in 2016 were in Romania, with 14% in Poland, 10% in Italy, and 9% in Spain – forming the top four countries. 

In Poland, 92% of farms – 3.1 million farms – were smaller than 5 hectares. Larger farms of 50 hectares or more were in Luxembourg (52%), France (41%), the United Kingdom (39%), and Denmark (35%). 

Of the 10.3 million farms, 4.0 million of them had a standard output below EUR 2,000 and were responsible for only 1% of the total agricultural economic output. Only 3% of farms across the EU were responsible for the majority (55%) of the EU’s total agricultural economic output in 2016.  

Although most of the farms were in Romania, the Romanian farms only contributed 3.4% of the EU’s standard output. France, Spain, the UK, and Germany added together accounted for 50% of the EU’s standard output.

In terms of the landscape of the countrysides, agricultural landscapes covered 62% of Denmark, 69% of the UK, and 72% of Ireland. 

Of the 10.3 million farm managers across the EU in 2016, only 11% were younger than 40 years old; 57% were between 41-64 years of age, and 32% were 65 years or older.  

Younger farm managers were few in Cyprus (3.3%), Portugal (4.2%), and the United Kingdom (5.3%). Younger farm managers were more common in Austria (22.2%), Poland (20.3%), and Slovakia (19.0%). However, the younger farm managers tended to have larger farms in terms of area, livestock, and standard output than farm managers over 65 years of age. 

The farming profession was dominated by males, with 71% of farm managers, compared to 29% female farm managers. Of farm managers younger than 40 years old, 77% were men and 23% were women. 







MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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