Sweden! - International Federation of Agricultural Journalists

SOLUTIONS FOR A GREEN FUTURE 9
An overview of
Swedish agriculture
The total agricultural area in Sweden is 2.6 million hectares.
There are about 72,600 holdings (2007) of which 31%
are fully owned and 61% partly leased. The average area
per holding is 36.5 hectares. The tendency is that arable
land per farm is increasing from year to year, the number
of farms with less than 100 hectares is decreasing and the
number of larger farms with more than 100 hectares is
increasing.
Animal husbandry is the dominant line of
production. It is only in the central region
and the southern county of Skåne that crop
production dominates.
In the north of Sweden there are mostly
small farms. Agriculture is often combined
with forestry in many parts of the country.
Almost 40,000 businesses can be classified,
by measuring their labour requirements, as
part-time farms. About 18,800 farms need
more than 1,600 hours of labour per year
and are classified as full-time farms. Only
5,600 are so large that there is a constant
need for extra farm workers in addition to
the owners.
Map with the characteristic types of
farming by county in different parts of
Sweden is shown om page 8.
The total number of people employed in
agriculture and subsidiary industries 4