Agricultural area and livestock (discontinued), 31 July 2007, preliminary figures

The total grain area for those who applied for agricultural production subsidies amounted to 3.1 million decares, which is 2 per cent less than in 2006. Barley comprised 45 per cent of the total grain are, while wheat and oats covered 29 and 23 per cent respectively.

The total agricultural area was 10.24 million decares in 2007, of which 8.5 million decares were fully cultivated. The area of meadows for mowing and pastureland covered 6.6 million decares in 2007.

Fewer sheep

The number of sheep fell by 34 000 to 886 200 from 2006 to 2007. Since 2001, the number of sheep has been reduced by 10 per cent.

The number of dairy cows fell by 6 000 to 253 000 from 2006 to 2007. During the last ten years, the number of dairy cows has been reduced by almost 20 per cent. In the same period, the number of beef cows has increased by 28 500 to 60 000, an increase of 89 per cent.

The number of dairy goats is also decreasing, and has been reduced with 23 per cent to a total of 41 000 during the last ten years.

The number of breeding pigs decreased with 3 300 from 2006 to 2007.

Organic farming

In 2007, the organic farmland covered 384 200 decares of agricultural area in use, or 3.8 per cent of the total area. 23 500 cattle were registered on holdings approved for organic farming in 2007. About 6 300 of these were dairy cows, and 3 400 beef cows.

Tables:

• Table 1 Agricultural area, by use. 1998-2007*
• Table 2 Domestic animals. 1998-2007*
• Table 3 Agricultural area, by county and use
• Table 4 Cattle, by county . 2007*
• Table 5 Holdings with organic farming and area approved as organically operated. 2002-2007*
• Table 6 Domestic animals by holdings approved for organic farming. 2002-2007*