Census of agriculture (discontinued), 1999

Off-holding self-employment or employment of farm couples and single farmers amounted in 1998/1999 to 55 000 man-years. Compared with 1994/1995 this is a decline of 6 700 man-years or 11 per cent. If work in supplemental industries on the holdings is included in 1998/1999, the decline is three per cent see separate article on supplemental industries. Much of the decline in off-farm work can be explained by the decline in the number of farms.

Higher productivity in agriculture and horticulture

From 1994/1995 to 1998/1999 labour input per 100 decares of farmland declined from 1 674 to 1 435 man-hours, a drop of about 3.5 per cent per year. During the same period, farm and horticulture labour input on farms with land in production increased from 2 041 hours in 1994/1995 to 2 072 hours in 1998/1999.

Full-time farmers?

24 500 persons worked at least 1 875 man-hours in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. This includes only farm couples and single farmers and no other persons working on the farm. The persons were connected to just under 24 000 holdings. The line here is set at 1 875 man-hours, the labour input regarded as equalling one man-year in agriculture. Around 5 000 of the persons had in addition to working 1 875 hours on the farm, varying degrees of off-farm employment or self-employment.

Supplemental industries

Farmers on about every third farm with farmland in production have one or another form of supplemental activity besides traditional farming and forestry. Labour input in the supplemental industries amounted in 1998/1999 to about 5 000 man-years.

Sample of complete census

The newest results presented in this article are based on a sample of examined questionnaires from the complete 1999 farm census. For this reason, the figures cannot be broken down into smaller levels such as counties and municipalities. The suppliers of the data recorded their labour input as man-hours, but in this article man-hours have been converted into man-years. A man-year in agriculture or horticulture is 1 875 hours, while a man-year in other contexts is 1 750 hours. Caution should be exercised in comparing the results with earlier surveys.

Tables:

• Table 1 Labour input at the holdings, by region, size of holding, area of grain and oil seeds and number of milking cows. 1994/1995, 1998/1999*. 1 000 man-hours.
• Table 2 Number of holdings, agricultural area in use, labour input in agriculture and horticulture, average labour input at the holdings and per 100 decares area in use, by region, size of holding, area of grain and oil seeds and number of dairy cows. 1994/1995, 1998/1999*. 1 000 man-hours.