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Kiel (dpa / lno) - The number of agricultural businesses in Schleswig-Holstein continues to decline.
Last year, 12,240 farms cultivated an agricultural area of over 995,500 hectares in the north.
That was 14 percent fewer farms than in the previous so-called agricultural census in 2010, as the North Statistics Office reported on Thursday.
The area, however, remained almost constant.
Therefore, the average farm size increased from around 71 to almost 82 hectares.
Concentration progressed particularly strongly in livestock farming.
The number of cattle farms fell by a good 25 percent to around 5,950. For farms with dairy cows, there was even a decrease of 40 percent to a good 3,000. For pig farms (a good 1000) the decrease was 42 percent and for sheep farmers (1600) 16 percent.
Only chicken holdings increased by around three percent to a good 1700 farms.
Six percent of the farms operated ecologically in 2020.
There was an increase of 250 companies or 56 percent to 690. The organic share nationwide is ten percent.
The organically farmed area has almost doubled in the north to 63 600 hectares.
This corresponds to a good six percent of the total agricultural area.
An organic farm thus had an average of 92 hectares.
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The number of people employed in agriculture fell within ten years by a good six percent to 42,500. More than 19,000 of them were family workers and just under 10,900 seasonal workers.
42 percent of the farms stated that they also generate sales with additional activities on the farm.
Most frequently (35 percent) this concerned the generation of renewable energies.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210121-99-119590 / 2
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