Small farms' role in the EU food system

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4.8 • 13 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2022

⏱️ 7 minutes

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Summary

Small farms make up the vast majority of the EU's 10 million farms. Recent studies have lowered past estimates of how much of the global food supply is produced by small farms. Notwithstanding the complex nature of such estimates and the possible under-estimation of small operators' production because of self consumption, it is clear that small farms allocate larger shares of their production to food and have a more diversified produce portfolio than larger farms. In addition to producing food, small farms are typically associated with protecting landscape features and biodiversity and the notion of providing public goods.

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0:00.0	Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcasts.
0:05.0	In this podcast, we'll go to the farm and see what role small farms play in our food system and in our rural world,
0:12.0	paying attention to the challenges they face and how the EU can help overcome them. Stay with us.
0:22.0	Most of the world's 600 million farms are small, and the same ring's true for the vast
0:28.1	majority of the EU's 10 million farms. Now, what exactly is small is subject to debate and can
0:34.9	be measured in different ways, such as number of workers,
0:38.4	herd of livestock, economic activity, but the most commonly used is the size of the farmland.
0:44.6	And here's an interesting figure.
0:47.9	80% of the world's farms each operate an agricultural area smaller than three football fields. That's about two hectares,
0:56.7	whereas nearly 40% of world farmland is found in a very small share of farms, each of them
1:03.0	with a farmed area larger than the entire park of the Palace of Versailles, which measures
1:08.6	more than 800 hectares. In the EU too, the majority of farms areilles, which measures more than 800 hectares.
1:16.2	In the EU too, the majority of farms are small, but their proportion compared to medium-sized and bigger farms is smaller, and there are big differences between countries.
1:21.4	Yes, there are.
1:22.5	While Romania's geography is dotted with small family-run farms, countries like France or Luxembourg have a bigger
1:29.1	proportion of larger farms of at least 50 hectares. But here's one mistake not to be made. While
1:36.0	small farms are normally family farms, not all family farms are small, and the difference should
1:41.8	certainly not be overlooked. That's right. Now reality is, the number of farms in the EU has been in steep decline for a long time,
1:50.0	but the amount of farmland has remained steady, which means that the fewer farms we have are larger than they were in the past.
1:58.0	Now why is that? Here's Raquel Erosi from the European Parliamentary Research Service.
2:03.5	Small farms have been experiencing a sharper decline compared to the rest. Small farms are
2:09.2	typically managed by older farmers and are not likely to be maintained in business when these
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