agreste

Agreste cahiers n° 1 - mars 2000

The economic size of ongoing farms increased by an average of 11 % between 1990 and 1997.

The economic size of ongoing farms increased by an average of 11 % between 1990 and 1997. Although they are numerous, their farms account for a total of barely 6 % in the economic potential of French agriculture. In the European Union, whereas the proportion of retirees among farmers is not known, 28 % of European farmers have reached or passed 65 years of age. The farm population is particularly elderly in the four southern European countries, while it is younger in France, and especially in Austria, Germany and Finland. Among those under 55 years old, 37 % of European farmers have a main non-farm occupation. Half of young Swedish, German or Portuguese farmers declare that they work elsewhere, as against 20 % of young French farmers.