Holdings, agricultural area and livestock, 2012, preliminary figures

The average size of farms increased from 219 decares in 2011 to 222 decares in 2012. Since 1999, the agricultural area per holding has increased by 50 per cent. Of the total agricultural area in 2012, fully cultivated agricultural land covered 8.2 million decares, 0.2 million decares were surface cultivated meadows and 1.6 million decares infield pastures.

In 2012, 42 200 of the holdings were operated by a natural person, and of these, 14.6 per cent were females. In 1999, 12.9 per cent of the personal holders were female. Since 1999, the number of holdings being operated by a legal person has risen from 1.1 per cent to 5.6 per cent of all holdings, to a total of 2 500 in 2012.

Less grain area

The total grain area amounted to 2.9 million decares in 2012. Barley comprised 53 per cent of the total grain area, while oats and wheat covered 24 and 22 per cent respectively. The area of wheat dropped by 69 000 decares from 2011 to 2012, and the area of oats by 24 000 decares to 692 900 decares. In the same period, the area of barley increased by 79 000 decares to 1.56 million decares.

The area of meadows for mowing and pastures dropped slightly to a total of 6.49 million decares from 2011 to 2012.

Fewer cattle

The number of cattle dropped slightly by 2 600 from 2011 to 2012 to a total of 861 500. The number of beef cows increased, while the number of dairy cows and other cattle were reduced. The average herd size for dairy cows was 23, and for beef cows 14.

There were 97 000 breeding pigs in 2012, which is almost the same as the year before. The average herd of breeding pigs was 76 in 2012.

The number of laying hens increased by 1 per cent to a total of 3.94 million from 2011 to 2012.

Tables:

• Table 1 Holdings, by size of agricultural area in use and county
• Table 2 Agricultural area per holding, by county. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2004, and 2009-2012*. Decares
• Table 3 Agricultural area, by use. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2008-2012*. Decares
• Table 4 Domestic animals. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2008-2012*
• Table 5 Number of animals per holding keeping various kinds of animal, by county and size of holding