Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today? FAO AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS z WORKING PAPER 19-08 ISSN 2521-1838 November 2019 Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today? Sarah K. Lowder, Marco V. Sánchez and Raffaele Bertini Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2019 Required citation: Lowder, S.K., Sánchez, M.V. & Bertini, R. 2019. Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today? FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 19-08. Rome, FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 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Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to: [email protected] Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... vi 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 2 Data sources and definitions ....................................................................................... 2 3 Number of farms and their location ............................................................................. 4 4 Distribution of farms and farmland area by land size class ......................................... 6 5 Getting concepts and accounting on family vs. small farms right ............................. 11 6 Farmland distribution and farm size over time: is farmland becoming increasingly concentrated among large farms? ............................................................................ 16 7 Snapshot of who works on farms .............................................................................. 29 8 Conclusion, policy implications and recommendations ............................................. 32 References ....................................................................................................................... 34 Annex ............................................................................................................................... 44 iii Tables Table 1. Published literature on the change in average or median farm size and farmland distribution worldwide, 2010–2014 ..................................................... 17 Table 2. Additional literature on average or median farm size, 2013–2016 .................... 18 Table 3. Trends in average farm size by income and regional group, 1960–2010 ......... 24 Table 4. Average farm size by region, 1960–2010 .......................................................... 26 Table 5. Average farm size by income group, 1960–2010 .............................................. 27 Table 6. Age of agricultural holder in Botswana .............................................................. 30 Table 7. Age of agricultural holder in Panama and Peru ................................................. 30 Table 8. Age of agricultural holder in Myanmar and the Philippines ............................... 31 Table A1. Number of farms, by country, most recent census ............................................ 44 Table A2. Number and area of farms by land size class, worldwide, regionally and by income group ................................................................................................ 49 Table A3. Number and area of farms by land size class, 1990, 2000 or 2010 round ........ 51 Table A4. Share of farms and farmland held by an individual or household and use of household and hired permanent workers on the farm ................................... 60 Table A5. Average farm size and number of farms 1960–2010 ........................................ 63 Table A6. Use of household and hired (temporary and permanent) labour on the farm ........................................................................................................ 67 Figures Figure 1. Share of farms worldwide, by country group, most recent observation ............... 5 Figure 2. Worldwide distribution of farms and farmland, by land size class ....................... 7 Figure 3. Average distribution of farms and farmland area by land size class and income group ....................................................................................................... 9 Figure 4. Average distribution of farms and farmland area by land size class and by region ............................................................................................................ 10 Figure 5. Family farms and small farms – share of holdings and share of agricultural area ................................................................................................. 14 Figure 6. Share of value of food production from smallholders, by region and income grouping ................................................................................................ 14 Figure 7. Farmland distribution over time in Brazil and the United States of America from the 1970s .................................................................................................. 20 Figure 8. Farmland distribution over time in select European countries, 2005–2013 ....... 21 Figure 9. Farmland distribution over time in Ethiopia, India and the Philippines from the 1970s ........................................................................................................... 23 Figure 10. Average farm size over time, by region 1960–2010 .......................................... 26 Figure 11. Average farm size over time, by income group 1960–2010 .............................. 27 iv Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today? Sarah K. Lowder1, Marco V. Sánchez2 and Raffaele Bertini3 1 Independent Agricultural Economist based in Washington DC; previously Economist at the Agricultural Development Economics Division, FAO, Rome. 2 Deputy Director, Agricultural Development Economics Division, FAO, Rome. 3 Economist, Programme Support and Technical Cooperation Department, FAO, Rome. Abstract A better and more complete understanding of family farms is urgently needed to guide policy makers’ efforts towards achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper takes stock of the number of farms worldwide, and their distribution and that of farmland, on the basis of agricultural censuses and survey data. Thus, it shows that there are more than 608 million farms in the world. Rough estimates also indicate that more than 90 percent of these farms are family farms (by our definition) occupying around 70–80 percent of farmland and producing about 80 percent of the world’s food in value terms. We underscore the importance of not referring to family farms and small farms (i.e., those of less than 2 hectares) interchangeably: the latter account for 84 percent