The number of farms in the EU is shrinking

Number of farms in the EU decreased by more than 25%, with the exception of indicators of Croatia.

According to Eurostat, during 2005-2013, the number of farms in the EU (excluding Croatia) decreased by 26.3%, which corresponds to an annual reduction of 3.7%.

Greatest reduction in the number of farms is observed in Slovakia – 12,5%, Bulgaria – 8.9% and Poland at 6.6%.

Only EU country which recorded growth in the number of farms is Ireland. There within the specified period, the number of households increased by 0.6% annually, which corresponds to 7,000 new businesses.

Area under farmland in the EU-28 during 2005-2013 was quite stable and was 174,6 million. However, the average agricultural area per farm for a given time has significantly increased.

In 2013 in the total European agricultural land the French had to 15.9%, Spain – by 13.3%, great Britain – 9,9%, Germany 9.6 per cent.

According to experts in Ukraine, medium and small farms during the last several years by 20% reduced the number of livestock of pigs and cattle. The official information, this reduction is less than the actual looks, since a small number of market leaders for some more time continued to increase the number. As of October 1, 2016, in comparison to 01.10.2015, that is, during the year, the number of cattle decreased by 2.8% to 4,1625 million heads, including the number of cows has decreased by 3.7% to 2,1624 million heads.

Those farms, which is the basis of meat and dairy industry, gradually disappear from the market. And large producers of milk and meat yet stopped the expansion of business.