Holdings, agricultural area and livestock, 2010, preliminary figures

The number of holdings has dropped by 25 000 since the previous complete census in 1999 to a total of 46 300 in 2010.

In 2010, 43 500 of the holdings were operated by a natural person, and of these, 14.4 per cent were females. In 1999, 12.9 per cent of the personal holders were females. Since 1999 the number of holdings being operated by a legal person has risen from 1.1 per cent to 6.1 per cent of all holdings.

More grass and less grain

Of the total agricultural area in 2010, fully cultivated agricultural land covered 8.3 million decares, 0.2 million decares surface cultivated meadows and 1.6 million decares infield pastures.

The total agricultural area dropped by 3 per cent from 1999 to 2010. In the same period, the area of open field and gardens fell by 11 per cent, while the area of meadows for mowing and pastures increased by 2 per cent. The area of infield pastures rose by 250 000 decares to 1.55 million decares from 1999 to 2010. The area of fully cultivated meadows fell by 100 000 decares to a total of 4.76 million decares in the same period.

The average size of farms increased from 147 decares in 1999 to 218 decares in 2010. Since 1979, the agricultural area per holding has been nearly tripled.

More animals

From 1999 to 2010 the number of dairy cows has been reduced by 30 per cent to a total of 238 000. The number of beef cows is nearly doubled to a total of 70 000 in the same period. The average herd size increased from 14 to 21 dairy cows and 7 to 14 beef cows.

The number of breeding pigs of 98 000 in 2010 is almost the same as 10 years ago. In the same period, the average size of herds increased from 27 to 66. The average herd of pigs for slaughtering rose from 72 to 210. The number of pigs for slaughtering increased by 18 per cent to a total of 752 900.

The number of sheep one year and older dropped by 36 000 from 1999 to 2010. The average size of herd increased from 42 to 63 in the same period.

The number of laying hens increased by 20 per cent to a total of 3.9 million from 1999 to 2010. At the same time, the average size of herds has been nearly tripled from 780 to 2 100.

Tables:

• Table 1 Total number of holdings and holdings, by type of holder
• Table 2 Personal holders, by age. Per cent. Average age
• Table 3 Holdings, by size of agricultural area in use and county
• Table 4 Agricultural area per holding, by county. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2003-2010*. Decares
• Table 5 Agricultural area, by use. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2007-2010*. Decares
• Table 6 Domestic animals. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2007-2010*
• Table 7 Number of animals per holding keeping various kinds of animal, by county and size of holding