Agricultural area and livestock (discontinued), 31 July 2006, preliminary figures

The number of dairy goats fell by 4 per cent to a total of 42 500 in 2006, and the number of breeding pigs increased by 2 500 to 101 100.

The total agricultural area came to 10.2 million decares in 2006, of which 8.5 million decares were fully cultivated. The area of surface cultivated pastureland increased by 2 per cent to 1.45 million decares from 2005 to 2006.

The grain area was 3.1 million decares in 2006. From 2005 to 2006, the area of wheat increased by 5 per cent, while the area of barley dropped by 7 per cent.

Organic farming

In the four-year period from 2002 to 2006, the percentage of holdings performing organic farming increased from 2.3 to 4.2. In 2006, the organic farmland covered 3.7 per cent of the total agricultural area in use.

23 000 cattles were regsitered on holdings approved for organic farming in 2006. About 6 000 of these were dairy cows, and 3 400 were beef cows.

Tables:

• Table 1 Agricultural area, by use. 1997-2006*
• Table 2 Domestic animals. 1997-2006*.
• Table 3 Agricultural area, by county and use
• Table 4 Holdings with organic farming and area approved as organically operated. 2002-2006*
• Table 5 Domestic animals by holdings approved for organic farming. 2002-2006*