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This article was published on September 5, 2015 at 13:07.
The scenario developed by ISTAT records (data 2013 compared to the 2010 Census) an agricultural sector undergoing great change. In a few years the number of farms decreased by 9.2% (data 2013) compared to the figure recorded by the Census of Agriculture 2010. Although the total area of farms decreases – the statement said Istat – albeit to a lesser extent than their number: the utilized agricultural area decreased by 3.3% and 2.4% of the total agricultural area. This increases the average size company, from 7.9 to 8.4 hectares. The decrease of the utilized agricultural area is larger in the North-West (-5.7%) and the Centre (-6.3%), smaller in the Northeast (-1.7%), the South (-3 , 0%) and the Islands (-0.9%). Compared to 2010 – the report says – among crops which saw the most significant surfaces are found in vegetables (-15.2%), in durum wheat (-12.8%) and fruit (-8.4% ). The livestock sector is in decline for pigs (-7.8% the number of head) and cattle (-4.5%), while poultry farms, sheep and goats are essentially stable (respectively -1.5% and + 0, 5% heads).
The use of labor (number of employees) was down (-8.1%). This is due to the decline of family labor (-13.0%), following the termination of many small farms. Compared to 2010, the total days of work provided in the company are virtually stable (+ 0.8%), thanks to the significant increase in non-family labor (+ 14.3%). Istat also identifies the trend toward transformation of the sector and points to the fact that, between 2010 and 2013, has expanded dramatically the number of multifunctional farms, whose work is related to agriculture (+ 48.4%). This trend is mainly due to companies that produce renewable energy (21 thousand), which in just three years increased by about six times, and those that transform their products (42000), which almost doubled (+ 97.8%). An increasing number of companies – adds Istat – uses products organically, both for crops and for livestock (+ 4.7% overall compared to 2010); in the three-year period, the biological surface invested rose from 6.1% to 7.7% of the total utilized agricultural area.
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