Holdings, agricultural area and livestock, 2011, preliminary figures

The total utilised agricultural area dropped by 77 000 decares to a total of 9.98 million decares in 2011. Of the total agricultural area in 2011, fully cultivated agricultural land covered 8.2 million decares, 0.2 million decares was surface cultivated meadows and 1.6 million decares infield pastures.

The agricultural area in use has dropped by 3.8 per cent since 1999. However, a major part of this decrease is caused by the implementation of new digital maps as from 2005. In the period 1999-2011, the area of open field and gardens fell by 13 per cent, while the area of meadows for mowing and pastures increased by 2 per cent. The area of infield pastures rose by 350 000 decares to 1.56 million decares from 1999 to 2011. The area of fully cultivated meadows fell by 135 000 decares to a total of 4.74 million decares in the same period. The area of surface cultivated meadows fell by 94 000 decares.

The average size of farms increased from 215.8 decares in 2010 to 219.4 decares in 2011. Since 1979, the agricultural area per holding has been nearly tripled.

Fewer dairy cows - more beef cows

From 2010 to 2011 the number of dairy cows has been reduced by 5 000 to a total of 233 000. The number of beef cows increased by 2 000 to a total of 72 000 in the same period.

The number of breeding pigs of 96 000 in 2011 is 1 200 fewer than the previous year. The number of pigs for slaughtering decreased by 1 per cent to a total of 743 000.

The number of sheep one year and older dropped by 4 300 from 2010 to 2011. The number of laying hens decreased by 100 000 to a total of 3.85 million in the same period.

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 2008-2011*. Decares
• Table 3 Agricultural area, by use. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2008-2011*. Decares
• Table 4 Domestic animals. 1979, 1989, 1999, 2008-2011*
• Table 5 Number of animals per holding keeping various kinds of animal, by county and size of holding