Istat, the data of the 6th general census on agriculture

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The number of agricultural farms decreases, but there is an increase in their average size. Around 99% of the agricultural farms are managed by families. 30,7% of the farms are managed by women. The computerization of the Italian farms is still low: less than 4% use Internet to manage crops, breeding or administrative services. There are 233 thousand foreigners who work in the Italian farms, 57,7% of whom come from Eu countries while 42,3 % from extra Eu countries. 63% of the farms producing organic products are in Southern Italy. Translation Note: A Italiano translation of this content is available here. Thanks to the definite data of the 6th general census on agriculture, the picture of the Italian agriculture is now more structured. It shows more clearly, compared to the preliminary data, the transformations that the agricultural sector has made in last decade. It was a difficult period for Italian agriculture: the economic crisis, volatility of prices of the agricultural commodities, the changes in the Common agricultural policy, and new challenges connected with environmental sustainability, all of these factors have influenced our agriculture. The definite results of the sixth census confirm the tendencies appeared in the preliminary data, showing an agriculture, showing an agriculture characterized by a lower number of farms, but bigger in size, with a prevailing of family management, but with important signs of renewal toward flexible forms of land tenure, towards conduction form the part of capital societies, toward a rising use of waging labour. The renewal of the farms’ managers is slow in terms of age and educational qualification, with a tendency rise of farms managed by women, but the diversification of the enterprise activities is accelerated and it highlights a higher attention to the protection of the territory. These tendencies have different intensities in the diverse geographical territories of the country, confirming the existent gap in terms of productivity and modernisation, between the agriculture of Northern Italy and the rest of the country. There are 1.620.844 agricultural and zootechnical farms active in Italy (-32,4 % compared to 2000). The farms’ medium size is 7,9 hectares of utilized agricultural area (Uaa) (+44,2%). The total Uaa is equal to 42,8% of the national territory (12,9 million of total hectares), there is a reduction of 2,5% compared to 2000. The Italian agricultural and zootechnical structure, even though continues to be bases on single or family enterprise (96,1%) where the direct conduction of the enterprise are the predominant form (95,4%), shows significant signs of change. In particular, the land structure results more flexible compared to the past, thanks to the more common use of different modes of land possession. The rented Uaa has is increased of 50,3% and the free-use one f 110,8%, that is 38,1% of the total (in 2000 it was 23,3%). There is a clear growth of investments in the sector from societies or capitals and cooperatives. The farms conducted in society form have increased by 48,2% compared to 2000, even though they continue to represent only 3,6% of the total. However they cultivate 17,7% of the Uaa detected in 2010. On a total of 217.449 breeding farms there are 124 thousand that do bovine breeding equal to 57,1% of the zootechnical ones. This type of breeding is mainly diffused in the Northern part of the country, in particular in Lombardi, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. On the whole these four regions possess a little less than two third (64,6%) of the Italian bovine assets. Confirming the traditional structure of the Italian agriculture, the results of the 6th census shows a significant signs of change highlighting a sector in slow but clear social-economic evolution. In ten years the labour force has decreased by 50,9% and it has been replaced by aged labour (whose quota passes from 14,3% to 24,2% in 2000-2010). The quota of female labour is 37%. The presence of family members in the enterprise tends to decrease (-56,6%), but they reinforce their contribution, specializing and professionalizing it. About 99% of the agricultural enterprises use family labour, a data that confirms that family represents the connective tissue of the national agricultural production, around which the enterpereneurtive decisions and strategies revolve. The 2010census for the first time had information on the foreigners working in agriculture, their presence results to be increasing. In particular, the foreign workers are 233 thousand people and they are 24,8% of the farm labour force in non family run farms and 6,4% in total. 57,7% of the foreign labour force comes from EU countries while 42,3% from non EU countries. 30,7% of the agricultural farms is managed by women. Higher numbers are in the South with 34,7% and in Central Italy with 31,9%. The number of farms managed by foreigners is very small (0,1%) with higher values in the South (0,6%). In general, the formation of the farms’ managers is very connected with the field experience and less with the grade of education: 71,5% of the farms’ managers has an educational level equal or higher of the third medium (70,8% for men and 73% for women). Only 6,2% of farms’ managers have a degree and only 0,8% of them in something to do with agriculture. There are 44455 organic farms. 63% of these are in the South of Italy. All the data at the LINK: <a href="http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/66591">ISTAT</a> (in Italian)