19.12.2024 at 11:36

Small Farms Are Disappearing in the EU: The Sharpest Decline Is in Romania

Small farms are increasingly giving way to larger ones, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries that are EU members. The sharpest decline has been recorded in Romania, where 970,000 small farms were removed from registries between 2010 and 2020, according to a European Commission analysis.

During the same period, the total agricultural land area in the EU decreased by only 2.2%, while the number of farms dropped by 24.8%, or nearly 3 million, leaving 9.1 million farms in 2020.

The number of farms decreased across all EU countries, but the extent varied. Romania saw the largest absolute decline (970,000 farms), while Bulgaria (-64%) and Hungary (-59%) experienced the greatest relative reductions.

In other Central and Eastern European countries, many small farms (semi-subsistence farms) disappeared, while large farms grew in both physical size and economic scale, indicating significant structural changes.

From 2010 to 2020, farms in the EU became more specialized. In the countries that joined the EU in 2004 (EU-13), the number of mixed farms decreased (-42% in number and -32% in area) in favor of specialized cultivation of cereals, oilseeds, and legumes (+31% in number, +36% in area).

Additionally, the number of livestock farms decreased significantly (-48% in number), while their area increased by 5% between 2010 and 2020. This, combined with a reduction in livestock numbers, led to lower animal density in most EU countries. These structural changes in farming were mainly driven by prices, macroeconomic factors, and income levels, as farmers adapted to new market conditions.

In EU countries that were members before 2004 (EU-14), the number of farms decreased across all types of agriculture, particularly mixed farms (-28%). Both livestock and specialized crop farms saw a 24% reduction in number, while their areas decreased by only 2% and 1%, respectively.

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