Recently, fewer pigs and cattle have been raised in Germany. At the start of this year, farms reported 20.9 million pigs and 10.6 million cattle. The reasons are declining meat consumption among the population and rising animal welfare costs.
On the reporting date, 15,700 pig farms were registered. This was 42.2 percent fewer than ten years ago. Because the farms have grown larger on average to about 1,300 animals, the absolute number of animals only decreased by 25.4 percent. The overall livestock fell by 16.3 percent within ten years. Since 2014, more than one in three farms (36.3 percent) have ceased dairy farming.
In 2022, around 876,000 people worked in German livestock farming, and crop and horticulture sectors. That was about 7 percent less than the previous year. Especially fewer seasonal workers and employed family members worked, but conversely, there were three percent more permanent employees.
During the same period, the number of agricultural enterprises declined by about 3 percent, or 7,800, down to 255,000 farms. Consequently, the average number of employees per establishment dropped from 3.6 to 3.4 workers. One of the main causes of the decrease is the aging of the workforce. Many young people no longer choose a career in agriculture, which is leading to a labor shortage.
Additionally, increasing mechanization plays a role. Modern agricultural machinery can relieve much 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 employment structures between the western and eastern federal states. In the western states, family workers employed on individual farms make up almost half (49%) of all farm laborers, followed by seasonal workers (just over 28%) and permanent employees (22%).
In contrast, in the eastern states, permanent employees represent more than half (over 56%) of all workers. In East Germany, family workers account for just over 20% of the agricultural workforce, and over 23% are seasonal workers.