In a quarter century, German farms halved but now twice as large

Last year, there were around 255,000 farms in Germany, cultivating around 16.6 million hectares. While the number of farms has fallen by almost half since the turn of the century, the agricultural area has fallen by only three percent over the same period. As a result, the average area per farm has increased from 37.2 hectares in 2000 to 65 hectares in 2023.

In Germany, fewer pigs and cattle are being kept recently. At the beginning of this year, farms reported 20.9 million pigs and 10.6 million cattle. The background is the population's declining meat consumption and the rising costs for animal welfare. 

On the reporting date, there were still 15,700 registered farms with pigs. That was 42.2 percent less than ten years ago. Because at the same time the farms have become larger by an average of 1,300 animals, the absolute number of animals only decreased by 25.4 percent. The livestock population decreased by 16.3 percent within ten years. Since 2014, more than one in three farms (36.3 percent) has given up dairy farming.

In 2022, some 876,000 people worked in German livestock farming, agriculture and horticulture. That is around 7 percent less than in the previous year. There were mainly fewer seasonal workers and deployed family members, but on the other hand three percent more permanent employees. 

In the same period, the number of agricultural businesses decreased by approximately 3% or 7,800 to 255,000 businesses. As a result, the average number of employees per establishment decreased from 3.6 to 3.4 employees. One of the main causes of the decrease is the ageing of the working population. Many young people no longer choose a career in agriculture, which creates a shortage of labour. 

In addition, increasing mechanization also plays a role. Modern agricultural machinery can lighten a lot of work, reducing the need for human labor. This has led to a shift towards more specialized and technology-intensive farming methods.

There are clear differences in the employment structure between the western and eastern states. In the western states, family workers working in individual enterprises account for almost half (49%) of all agricultural workers, followed by seasonal workers (over 28%) and permanent employees (22%). 

In the eastern states, on the other hand, the permanent workforce represents more than half (just over 56%) of all employees. In eastern Germany, family workers account for just over 20% of the agricultural workforce and just over 23% are seasonal workers.