4m EU farms disappear, but not in Ireland where number of farms are increasing

Ireland is the only EU member state where the number of farms increased between 2003 and 2013.

One out of four farms disappeared in 10 years across the EU, but farms increased 2.9% in Ireland, according to Eurostat’s latest statistics on EU farmers.

The number of farms more than halved in Slovakia (down 67.1%) and Bulgaria (61.8%).

Significant falls were also observed in Italy (48.6%), Estonia (47.9%), the Czech Republic (42.6%), Lithuania (36.9%), Hungary (36.5%), Latvia (35.4%), Poland (34.2%) and the UK (34%).

Over 10 years, slightly more than 4m EU holdings disappeared. while the total area used for agriculture remained stable.

The average holding grew by 38%, from 11.7 hectares in 2003 to 16.1 hectares in 2013.

The biggest farms are in the Czech Republic (averaging 133 hectares), the UK (93.6 ha), Slovakia (80.7 ha), Denmark (67.5 ha), Luxembourg (63ha), France (58.7 ha) and Germany (58.6 ha).

The smallest are in Malta (1.2 ha), Cyprus (3.1 ha), Romania (3.6 ha), Slovenia (6.7 ha), Greece (6.8 ha) and Hungary (9.5 ha).

Ireland’s average farm size in 2013 was 35.5 hectares, according to Eurostat, which provides statistical information to the European Commission.

Their report shows the EU in 2013 had 10.8 million farms totalling 174.6 million hectares of utilised agricultural area, and one third of all EU farms are in Romania.

The 2013 figures show agriculture in the EU is undergoing steady but non-dramatic structural change.

Farms are getting bigger and more productive, with declining dependence on labour, but there are still vast numbers of very small farms, primarily run in a part-time fashion, and often by elderly farmers.

Roughly 75% of agricultural labour is provided by family members.