Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
E1: Agriculture and fisheries
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
The structure of agricultural holdings (collected through farm structure surveys - FSS) is presented at different geographical levels and over periods. The information follows up the changes in the agricultural sector and provides a basis for decision-making in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other European Union policies.
The survey unit is the agricultural holding (farm). The data on individual agricultural holdings are collected by all Member States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and sent to Eurostat. Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Kosovo* have also provided data for some years. The aggregated results are disseminated through statistical tables.
The FSS surveys are organised in all countries in a harmonised way. For a given survey year, countries have to conduct their surveys within the agreed time-frame. The characteristics are based on a legal act, the same data are available for all countries in case of each survey. Thus all the data are as comparable as possible.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
Data are arranged in tables using many classifications. Some explanations are provided for most classifications.
The classifications of variables are available in Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 (for the years 2010 and 2013) and in Commission Regulation (EU) No 715/2014 (for the year 2016). For the previous years, please consult List of Regulations and Decisions underlying the farm structure surveys in the annex of item 6.1.
Farm typology
The Community typology means a uniform classification of the holdings based on their type of farming and their economic size. Both are determined on the basis of the standard gross margin (SGM) (until 2007) or standard output (SO) (from 2010 onward) which is calculated for each crop and animal production. The farm type is determined by the relative contribution of the different productions to the total standard gross margin/standard output of the holding.
For more information on farm typology, see the Standard Output glossary article.
For the legal acts governing the typology system from 1990 onwards, please consult List of Regulations and Decisions underlying the farm structure surveys in the annex of item 6.1.
Territorial classification
The regional data is broken down according to the NUTS classification.
The regional data is available at NUTS level 2.
For the legal acts governing the NUTS classification, see item 6.1.
The FSS statistics cover agricultural holdings undertaking agricultural activities as indicated in item 3.5 below and meeting the minimum coverage requirements (thresholds) as indicated in item 3.6 below.
In countries where the survey threshold is above one hectare of utilised agricultural area (UAA):
Both the censuses and the sample surveys are aimed at producing a variety of information on specific CAP targets, as well as providing a basis for extrapolating Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data.
A set of characteristics and definitions are set in legislation, please consult List of Regulations and Decisions underlying the farm structure surveys in the annex of the item 6.1. Some exceptions are nevertheless recorded. For 1990-2005, see annex Exceptions and explanations on the characteristics of FSS surveys 1990-2005. Since 2007, see the national methodological reports.
Information regarding the following groups of characteristics is available:
A complete glossary of agricultural statistics is available for users.
The statistical unit is the agricultural holding.
The statistical population consists of agricultural holdings which meet the minimum requirements set up in the FSS legislative framework.
The latest 2016 FSS covered the European Union, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The 2013 data covered the European Union, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and North Macedonia.
The 2010 census data covered the European Union, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia and Kosovo*.
See for which country and year the data is available on Eurostat website, in the FSS glossary article.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
FSS has been carried out since 1966.
The online database is only available from 1990 onwards. See for which country and year the data is available on Eurostat website, in the FSS glossary article.
For earlier data (before 1990), see Farm Structure - Historical Results (surveys from 1966/67 to 1997).
The FSS data have been processed with SGM coefficients/SO coefficients (3-year average in the case of SGM and 5-year average in the case of SO). For more information, see the use of SO and SGM coefficients in Farm Structure Surveys in the period 1990-2013.
Two kinds of units are generally used:
FSS data are available for the following years: 1989/1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999/2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009/2010, 2013 and 2016. The agricultural censuses are in line with the FAO recommendations and are carried out every 10 years. The intermediate surveys are organised 3 (until 2007) or 2 times (since 2010) between the censuses. The exact reference periods are determined in legislation.
For 2010, 2013 and 2016, the reference periods are provided in Article 8 of the Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008. Article 16 of the same Regulation provides derogations for Greece, Spain and Portugal, where the references to the year 2010 are replaced by references to the year 2009. For the definition of the reference periods for groups of characteristics in legislation, as well as for the slight deviations from these reference periods in some countries in 2013 and their impact on the comparability across the countries and betweeen 2010 and 2013, see Farm structure survey - reference periods.
The surveys 1990 and 2000 covered a period between 1 December 1988 and 1 March 1991, respectively 1 December 1998 and 1 March 2001, thus the actual survey varied from country to country. See for which country and year the data is available on Eurostat website in the FSS glossary article.
The rules governing the farm structure surveys are laid down in a number of Council Regulations and Commission Regulations and Decisions, which are published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
The annex List of the Regulations and Decisions underlying the FSS presents all legal acts by survey year and type of information provided (organisation of surveys, characteristics, definitions, tables, deadlines for data transmission, typology).
The NUTS classification is originally based on on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics. The Regulation also specifies stability of the classification for at least three years. Stability makes sure that data refers to the same regional unit for a certain period of time. This is crucial for statistics, in particular for time-series. However, sometimes national interests require changing the regional breakdown of a country. When this happens the country concerned informs the European Commission about the changes. The Commission in turn amends the classification at the end of period of stability according the rules of the NUTS Regulation. Therefore, the subsequent regular amendments to the annexes were adopted by Commission Regulation (EC) No 105/2007, Commission Regulation (EU) No 31/2011, Commission Regulation (EU) No 1319/2013 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2066 , establishing the NUTS versions 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016. In addition, the NUTS classification was completed with the regional breakdowns of the countries that joined the EU (please see Regulation (EC) No 1888/2005 and Regulation (EC) No 176/2008), and updated by Commission Regulation (EU) No 868/2014, Commission Regulation (EU) No 1046/2012. For more information, see the NUTS website.
Not applicable.
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/759 stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
In the tables disseminated on Eurostat website, a cell is confidential if:
A confidential value is replaced with ":c".
For non-confidential cells, the extrapolated number of holdings and all values of characteristics in cells are rounded to the closest multiple of 10.
Because of the confidentiality treatment, the sum of the individual cells does not systematically match with the value of the "total" cell.
There is no release calendar. Only transmission deadlines are set in legislation.
Not available.
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see principle 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Results are disseminated 2 years after the reference year.
The FSS results have been published in a series of statistical books, pocketbooks, Eurostat yearbooks and Statistics Explained articles, including a complete glossary:
Dedicated section:
Regional Data
Data for censuses carried out every 10 years are available in a three-level geographical breakdowns of the whole country, the regions and the districts; while data for intermediate sample-based surveys are only available upon the two-levels of country and regions.
Since FSS 1999/2000, information about local farm location is collected in most countries, so the data can also be disseminated by NUTS and are robust regarding the changes in the NUTS definition.
The FSS 2009/2010 information is in line with the NUTS 2010 classification: Commission Regulation (EU) No 31/2011 amending the NUTS classification from January 2003.
The FSS 2009/2010 and 2013 information are in line with the NUTS 2013 classification, see: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1319/2013 and Commission Regulation (EU) No 868/2014 amending the NUTS classification established by Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.
The FSS 2016 information is in line with the NUTS 2013 classification.
FSS surveys do not cover the whole territory but only the land covered by the agricultural holdings. So the land use data without link with other farm characteristics should be downloaded by the user from the relevant domain.
The main dissemination outlet is the website of Eurostat. Aggregates at regional (NUTS 2), national and European level are published under node "Farm structure" (ef).
The results span a considerable number of variables, broken down by groups of holdings formed according to several of the classification characteristics on which data were collected or compiled.
Eurostat grants access to microdata for scientific purposes only. Information on the procedure can be found in the dedicated page.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 606/2008 included the FSS in the list of surveys that can be accessed for scientific purposes and the criteria used for the anonymisation are under preparation.
Please consult free data online or refer to ESTAT-EUROFARM-DATA-USERS@ec.europa.eu.
Systematic data validation in countries and in Eurostat, see item 18.4.
National methodological reports, see items 10.6 and 10.7.
Peer review in Eurostat concluded in 2008.
Internal Audit in Eurostat in 2013.
Data is collected from reliable sources applying high standards with regard to the methodology and ensuring a high degree of comparability.
The national methodological reports, sent by the countries for each survey, comprise information on each of the quality aspects defined by Eurostat. The national methodological reports are aligned to the European Standard Quality Reporting Structure.
The users are all the stakeholders in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other policy areas such as environment, regional development, climate change and health:
The list of tables and of the surveyed characteristics are approved by Comitology.
No feedback analysis.
According to the Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008, if a country determines that a characteristic has a low or zero prevalence, the characteristic may be excluded from the data collection.
For each survey, the countries fill in a questionnaire by indicating the list of non-existent (NE) and non-significant (NS) characteristics with related reasons and the used sources. These lists can be accessed in the NMRs.
A NE characteristic has 0 value for the data, because it is for example not grown/raised due to climate conditions.
The value of a NS characteristic is not significant as compared to the whole population, because it is for example not grown/raised due to climate conditions or it is not profitable enough. A NS characteristic (with low prevalence and not collected under the heading) is denoted with "0n" in the tables on Eurostat website.
For designating a characteristic non-significant, Eurostat recommends the following general thresholds:
However, the designation of a characteristic as NS is subjective and it is not possible to give a threshold fully applicable to all countries and all characteristics. In other words, thresholds are different for different agricultural crops and livestock units in different countries.
Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 requires the estimates to be representative at the level of NUTS2 regions and by farm type and by size of agricultural holdings. This means that the estimates should be reliable and can be disseminated without quality concerns at NUTS2 regions. This does however not hold for lower geographical levels, e.g. NUTS 3, unless for countries which stratify by NUTS 3.
The sample surveys are usually stratified at NUTS 2 level.
The results of sample surveys are extrapolated with one (sometimes two) weighting factor(s) for a wide range of characteristics. Therefore the accuracy of estimates is affected by sampling errors.
In addition, accuracy is also affected by non-sampling errors which cause both variability and bias in the estimates.
Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 provides for two levels of precision requirements, one for the sample (i.e. non-census) surveys and another for the SAPM in 2010. For the FSS, precision requirements for a list of 21 characteristics are defined, which apply to all NUTS 2 regions with at least 10 000 holdings. For a NUTS 2 region with fewer than 10 000 holdings, those precision requirements apply instead to the associated NUTS 1 region, provided that the associated NUTS 1 region contains at least 1 000 holdings. For the SAPM, a reduced list of 10 characteristics is defined. The precision requirements are applied only if the prevalence of the characteristic surpasses a certain threshold in the respective region.
Eurostat publishes estimates for many more characteristics than those for which precision requirements are set in the Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 and for many types of population breakdowns, while the variables determining these breakdowns are not stratification variables in the sampling design. Since some cells' estimates, being of poor quality, likely send misleading messages to data users, the following quality rating system is implemented for cells' estimates:
The national methodological reports provide the relative standard errors (RSEs) for the main crop and livestock characteristics, for which precision requirements are set in legislation. The NMRs also provide details on the applicability of precision requirements and the methods used by countries for the estimation of the RSEs. Finally, the NMRs indicate the reasons for possible cases where precision requirements are applicable and estimated RSEs are above the thresholds (the reason is usually the variability of the characteristics between the sampling design and the data collection).
The national methodological reports provide all reasons and treatments on the non-sampling errors including coverage errors, measurement errors, non-response errors and processing errors.
Non-response errors are generally very low because the legislation in place obliges response with fines in many countries in case of non-response.
Processing errors are also low because the on-line surveys and questionnaires embedded in IT applications include consistency checks and validation rules.
Seasonal adjustment is not applicable. On the other hand, a few countries apply calibration but the related error is not estimated.
For the FSS characteristics with the largest measurement errors, see the article Farm structure survey - measurement errors
Deadlines for transmission of FSS data are set by legislation; for the 2010, 2013 and 2016 surveys in Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 (for earlier surveys see item 6.1).
For the FSS 2013 and 2016, countries shall transmit validated survey data to the Commission within 12 months of the end of the survey year. Data relating to the rural development measures may be transmitted to the Commission separately within 18 months of the end of the survey year.
Results are disseminated following validation, confidentiality treatment and tabulation 2 years after the reference year.
No delays after validation of the data.
Comparability across countries is considered high. Harmonisation of concepts and methods is ensured by a number of Commission Regulations and Decisions providing detailed information on list of variables/characteristics, on rules and procedures that should be followed and on time-frame within which FSS should be conducted. The same data are available for all countries. Besides, the censuses carried out every 10 years are in line with the FAO recommendations enhancing this way the comparability with countries outside Europe including USA and Japan.
Comparability problems between European countries concern:
See in addition the annex Exceptions and explanations on the characteristics of FSS surveys 1990 - 2005 in item 3.4.
The time series analysis in agricultural domain is mostly oriented to economic and social aspects of the agriculture such as the evolution of the labour force, the level of investment on the farms regarding environmental issues and the most relevant type of tenancy on the agricultural sector.
Real changes in the evolution of agricultural holdings
There is a decreasing trend in the number of agricultural holdings that appears in general over all European countries. Among the most important reasons to explain the changes over time are the abandonment of the agricultural activity, the lack of profitability of some crops and the increase of energy crops, based on the demand and subsidies. A time series analysis over a three year period helps to understand the impact of the agricultural policy on the agricultural practices i.e. the discontinuation of subsidies can lead to a quick and drastic decrease in the area used for the cultivation of a specific crop.
Methodological reasons affecting comparability over time
Changes are in many cases explained by the modification of the survey coverage (mainly thresholds, but also geographical coverage and coverage of farm types) and by treatment of common land.
From FSS 2007 onwards "maintaining land in good agricultural and environmental conditions" became an agricultural activity.
The change of legal requirements on survey coverage (see item 3.6) led to changes of survey thresholds in some countries between 2007 and 2010 FSS.
In the FSS 2013, an additional adjustment of thresholds took place in some countries (Belgium, France, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Finland and Iceland).
For more information on comparability problems and the impact of survey coverage changes on national data until FSS 2013, see article Farm structure survey - survey coverage.
Information on the significant changes on survey coverage between FSS 2013 and FSS 2016 is presented below.
- Fruit and berry plantations temperate climate
- Fruit and berry plantations subtropical climate
to
- Fruit species temperate climate
- Fruit species sub-tropical climate
- Berry species.
Eurostat undertakes cross-check analyses of the FSS statistics against animal and crop (ACS) production statistics but also against Agricultural Labour Input variables included in the Economic Agricultural Accounts (EAA). The main reasons for the differences between FSS and other data collections are:
Land use
The FSS does not cover the whole territory but only land belonging to agricultural holdings. The total farm area covers utilised agricultural area (arable land, kitchen gardens, permanent grassland and permanent crops), area covered by mushrooms, unutilised agricultural area, wooded area and other land (occupied by buildings, farmyards, tracks, ponds, rock, etc).
Utilised agricultural area
Some discrepancies in the utilised agricultural area are mainly due to the treatment of common land. The ownership/management of farms by public entities should be included under the scope of both FSS and crop production surveys to reduce discrepancies.
On arable land, differences are detected also due to other minor reasons such as pulses/fodder classification, fallow land concept or other items that could be grouped in different ways.
Arable crops and vegetables of the ACS use sown/harvested area which in most cases is bigger than the main area in the FSS. In crop production surveys, the figures for area refer to area under cultivation/ harvested area whereas in FSS the area shall be counted only once (main area). This means that in FSS, although the area is used more than once in a certain calendar year it is counted only for the main crop on that area. So, in case of combined or successive cropping the area is counted in a different way than in ACS. The main crop is the crop with the highest value of the production or - if that is not determining enough - which occupies the ground for the longest time.
The overall variability between planted and harvested area is not well known, usually less than 20% for cereals in Europe, but depends on several factors such as the method of preparation, the time and manner of sowing, the kind of land on which the crop is grown, and the climatic conditions of the particular section. Also, the area sown or planted for the harvest of a given crop may change throughout the growing season. Issues such as use for purposes other than grain, abandonment, extreme weather damage, or unusual economic conditions might also create a problem for the areas recorded in the different surveys.
Cultivated area in FSS for vegetables, melons and strawberries must be recorded only once even in the case of successive harvests whereas the area in crop production statistics is recorded as many times as it is cropped. This can be an important reason for different results especially for vegetables.
As regards permanent crops, the difference between intensive and extensive fruit farms is explained by planting density, fertiliser application, irrigation for higher production per area, etc. The FSS survey includes young fruit and berry plantations which are not yet in production, abandoned permanent crops with a possibility of reversibility and isolated trees. However, all these areas are excluded in the crop production survey and this is another source of the discrepancies in some countries.
As regards organic farming, Eurostat collects data on organic farming from national Certification and Inspection bodies. This data collection can differ from the FSS data on organic farming due to the different statistical unit (for organic statistics the unit is the certified agricultural holding) and to the data collection methodology (organic farming data is taken from administrative registers).
In order to increase coherence between FSS and ACS, the FSS 2016 Handbook was redrafted to harmonise as much as possible with the definitions and notes of the ACS Handbook, what is more, the proposal for the list of variables for 2020 onwards has been further harmonised with the ACS crop lists.
Animals
It is known that seasonal effects can appear for all species and in every production stage. Due to these effects the total number of heads and the production level recorded changes based on the different months of the year.
The bovine animals usually operate on a fairly stable cycle between the climatic seasons, unlike swine, sheep and goats. However, during the survey, farmers tend to supply late responses and to estimate the number of animals that they had at the time. Therefore, in relation to "2 years old heifers" and "other cows, bovine 2 years and older", several inconsistencies appear to be based on misclassification due to shortcomings on providing accurate replies regarding the age at disaggregated level.
For pigs, seasonality factors such as heat stress can affect the litter size and thus the production flow in a later production phase. Understanding seasonal effects helps to follow-up the changes in the number of heads and consequently a higher meat production level during some periods of the year.
The enumeration of sheep and goats is one of the most affected by seasonality. Usually the more lambs that can be born into a flock, the more profitable the operation is. This means mainly that maintaining ewes can be supported by the sale of many lambs. Obviously, this affects the inconsistencies on the total number of sheep and other sheep figures produced in summer and at the end of the year. Additionally, these variations are linked to the slaughtering and the big consumption of these species according to the market demand.
The seasonally different figures show that sheep, goats and pigs had maximum slaughtering in December and January indicating high demand for meat in these months while they declined to the lowest levels in August and September.
The results of the structure surveys of agricultural holdings are disseminated through statistical tables on Eurostat website. A wide range of tables are available crossing various dimensions and variables of time, area size, economic size, or geographical breakdowns. All the tables are derived from the same sets of individual data, which guarantees their coherence.
The internal coherence of the data sets is guaranteed by a common set of validation rules for the individual data and stable definitions of the variables/dimensions.
Some coordination exists between surveys in some countries to avoid that farms need to answer multiple questionnaires with the same kind of questions.
More information for each country can be found in the national methodological reports.
Legislation is in place to provide financial support for national FSS surveys.
Please refer to Eurostat policy on the management of errors in disseminated data.
The individual data are validated by countries and Eurostat using strict rules, the aggregated data are checked as well.
The 2013 and 2016 data were disseminated as preliminary and then as final.
These data may nevertheless be subject to subsequent revisions.
Regional data
In ef_main tables, the 2007 data were revised to set the NUTS classification from NUTS 2006 version to NUTS 2010 version.
Countries collect data through two kinds of surveys:
However, for certain characteristics, the countries may use samples for every survey.
The sampling rate depends upon the country and the survey year. It varies between 2.5% and 100% of the total population of agricultural holdings. In a few countries, every survey is a census, see the surveys between 1999/2000 and 2016 in the Glossary: Farm structure survey.
Countries complement the data from surveys with data from administrative sources. The use of administrative sources is for the first time enshrined in Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008. According to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008, provided that the information from the administrative source is of at least equal quality to information obtained from statistical surveys, countries are allowed to use information from:
Moreover, in case countries decide to use any other administrative source than those specified above, they can do so on condition that the Commission will be informed in advance and will be provided with a description of the used methods and quality of the data from this administrative source.
The article Farm structure survey - administrative sources provides a description of the administrative sources used in the FSS 2013 together with the main observations concerning the purpose and quality of these data sources, as well as the difficulties and measures taken to overcome them.
The data collection is conducted every 3 or 4 years. See item 3.8.
The methods used to collect the data vary in countries depending on national practices.
Detailed information for each country on the collection method used can be found in the national methodological reports.
Data at Eurostat are checked by successive steps on:
For the complete overview of the validation workflow, see annex Validation workflow.
Only data and metadata having been entirely validated can be disseminated.
Afterwards some errors may be detected during a specific analysis and the data set revised.
The aggregation can be simple summing up, but in case of sample surveys, the extrapolation factors provided by the countries for each holding are taken into account.
A few countries apply calibration (based on administrative sources) to improve the coverage and the data quality. For FSS 2013, see article Farm structure survey - administrative sources.
Not applicable.
