Small and Semi‐subsistence Farms in the EU: Significance and Development Paths

Abstract

Summary In Europe, family farming is an umbrella concept which incorporates farms of many different types and sizes. Some are specialised commercial operations, while others produce mainly to satisfy household food needs, the so‐called semi‐subsistence farms (SSFs). In 2010, there were 8.1 million farms in the EU‐27 farming less than 5 ha, including 5.6 million holdings of under 2 ha. Small‐scale farming is socially of key importance in providing income and in keeping millions of farmers and their households in rural areas, thus avoiding depopulation. SSFs account for almost half of all agricultural holdings in the EU‐27, and about three‐quarters of small holdings under 2 ha of agricultural area. Their distribution varies greatly between MSs but they are located predominantly in the New Member States and the Southern EU‐15. Three main paths of development for SSFs and small farms in the EU can be envisaged, with different implications for policy: Disappearance due to absorption into larger commercialised farm holdings, or to land abandonment (e.g. in remoter areas); Transformation of SSFs into small commercial farms via greater market integration – the main development path sought by EU Rural Development policy and Continuation through diversification, non‐agricultural wage employment, or ‘forced’ re‐entry as successive family generations do not have other income sources.

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