Cross-Country Comparison of Farm Size Distribution

This report summarises selected measures of the farm size distribution for fourteen OECD countries: Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (England) and the United States over the period 1995-2010. The farm size statistics are presented for four major production systems: crop, dairy, cattle and pig farming. The report documents consolidation of agricultural production in large-scale farms in most countries and sub-sectors covered by the report. Nevertheless, farm size growth rates show substantial differences across countries and periods which underlines the importance of country-specific natural, social, and economic conditions and the regulatory and policy environment for the evolution of farm structures. Increased inequality in farm size distributions, as captured using Gini coefficients, indicates a trend towards more polarized farm structures.