According to the final data of the farm structure survey conducted in 2023, the number of farms in Hungary went on decreasing similarly to EU trends, and mostly small farms, producing lower values of production, finished their activity in the period from 2020. In parallel, the average sizes of farms grew, the dominance of crop production strengthened, and the proportions of soil-friendly cultivation and irrigated areas significantly surged. Livestock numbers went down, while livestock farming was more concentrated than crop production. The average age of farm managers further rose, the proportion of farm managers with at least basic agricultural training increased and the number of farms involved in rural development programmes went up substantially as well. The shares of labour force engaged in agricultural work as well as of family labour force lessened.

Number of farms decreases and proportion of crop producers grows

The number of farms became smaller: some 198 thousand farms were operating in Hungary on 1 June 2023, which was a decrease of 18% compared to 2020. Compared to 2013, the rate of fall was 33%, i.e. 99 thousand fewer farms performed agricultural activity. First of all, farms cultivating smaller agricultural area and keeping only a few animals gave up their agricultural activity in the period between 2020 and 2023, too, which led to growths in the average size of farms and number of animals.

Compared to 2020, the number of farms diminished in all counties except in Veszprém County. The largest fall (26%) occurred in Somogy County, but also significant decreases of 24% were observed for Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg and Hajdú-Bihar Counties. In Veszprém County, the number of farms was up by 3.2%. In 2023, the most (24 thousand) farms were operating in Bács-Kiskun County, where there was a decrease of 13% compared to 2020.

The number of crop specialist farms remained relatively stable in the past years: though it decreased by 5.8% compared to 2020, it showed the same rate of growth compared to 2013. By contrast, the number of specialist livestock farms suffered a dramatic fall: it shrank to nearly the half in 3 years and to a quarter in 10 years. The EU’s subsidy policy favoured primarily crop production, in addition, animal diseases, recurring from time to time, and increased animal feed and energy costs also hit the sector, which made the situation of animal keepers more difficult. The shift in proportions continued in favour of crop specialist farms, which accounted for already 73% of farms in 2023, while the proportion of livestock specialist farms diminished to merely 14%. The share of mixed farms was 7.9%, not changing considerably.

The number of livestock specialist farms significantly went down in all counties between 2020 and 2023, the largest (60%) falls being observed for Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg and Heves Counties. By contrast, the number of crop specialist farms grew in seven counties – Veszprém, Békés, Baranya, Fejér, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Bács-Kiskun and Nógrád Counties –, to the highest extent (by 19%) in Veszprém County.

The proportion of crop specialist farms was highest (82%) in Heves County and that of livestock specialist farms in Nógrád County (23%) in 2023.

Proportion of farms specialised in arable crop production increases from a quarter to half of farms in ten years

The transformation of the structure of agriculture is apparent in the proportion of farms specialised in arable crop production substantially growing between 2013 and 2023: they made up only 26% of farms back in 2013, which proportion exceeded 51% by 2023. The number of farms specialised in arable crop production was 101 thousand in 2023, which was an expansion of 5.8% compared to 2020. The area they utilised approximated 3.6 million hectares in 2023, which accounted for 70% of the total agricultural area. The specialisation of farms specialised in arable crop production is well seen in the proportion of livestock units they owned being merely 4.9%.

In addition to the dominance of arable crop production, decreases were observed in all the other aggregate typological groupsSee Methodology.^[1] compared to 2020. The largest fall was suffered by specialist granivore farms, the number of which was down by 61%, so their share shrank from 15% to 7.3% of the number of all farms.

Concentration of agricultural production continues

Between 2013 and 2023, the highest decrease of 54% was recorded in the number of farms having the lowest standard output (SO) of below 4,000 euros. The number of farms with an output of between 4 thousand and 8 thousand euros also lessened (by 28%). The number of farms in the three largest size categories significantly increased in this period. The more than two-fold (135%) growth in the number of farms having an SO of between 100 thousand and 500 thousand euros was remarkable. These changes substantially transformed the farm structure: the farms in the two smallest size categories made up 80% of all farms in 2013, while this proportion was down to 61% by 2023, by contrast, the share of farms with an SO larger than 15 thousand euros rose from 12% to 27%.

45% of farms producing an SO of below 4 thousand euros in 2020 were closed down during the three years examined, compared with merely 3.7% of those with an SO of 500 thousand euros or above.

The level of concentration of the structure of production is well shown by 47% of farms belonging to the smallest size category in 2023, however, 45% of SO being concentrated in farms with the largest output, which represented a proportion of merely 1.1% of the number of farms.

Livestock specialist farms more concentrated than crop specialist farms

The structure of agricultural production differs by type of farm. The most marked concentration was observed for farms specialised in keeping granivores or in keeping various animals. In the case of the former, 78% of the farms were in the smallest size category, while 87% of the output was accounted for by the largest category of 500 thousand euros or above.

Crop specialist sectors were less concentrated than livestock specialist sectors. Though 39% of farms specialised in arable crop production fell in the smallest category, 65% of the output was made up by medium-sized and large farms producing an SO of between 15 thousand and 500 thousand euros. A relatively even farm structure was observed for farms specialised in permanent crop farming: 62% of them were in the smallest category, while 64% of the output was made up by categories of between 15 thousand and 500 thousand euros.

Owing to concentration, SO per farm increased to 40.2 thousand euros, almost two-and-a-half-fold between 2013 and 2023. The largest expansions were observed for livestock specialist farms and farms specialised in horticulture.

Ageing farming community

The number of farmers became lower in all age groups, but to different degrees. The largest fall between 2013 and 2023 was observed for the 55 to 64-year-old age category: their number lessened from 91 thousand to 45 thousand. Substantial decreases were recorded for younger age categories as well.

The proportion of farm managers belonging to the 65-year-old and older age group went on growing, which proportion made up already 37% in 2023, compared with 29% in 2013. 60% of farm managers were 55 years old and older, which was similar to the EU average. In 2020, 58% of farmers belonged to this age category in the member states and 60% in Hungary. By contrast, merely 4.9% of managers were aged under 35 years, this proportion being 5.6% back in 2013, their number decreasing by 42% over ten years.

Between 2020 and 2023, the number of farms with a farm manager aged under 35 years went down in all counties except for Győr-Moson-Sopron, Veszprém and Komárom-Esztergom Counties. The proportion of farm managers aged 65 years and over was highest, 43% in Békés County.

The average age of farm managers was 58.2 years in 2023, 57.5 years for males and 59.9 years for females. These values did not change significantly compared to 2020. 7 in 10 farm managers were males in 2023. The proportion of female managers slowly grows. From 2013, the number of farms managed by male managers decreased at a higher rate than that of farms with female managers: the number of the former fell by 38% and that of the latter by 18%.

The distribution of farm managers by agricultural training substantially changed between 2013 and 2023. In 2023, 55% of farms were managed by managers with no agricultural training or having practical experience only, 34% by managers with basic agricultural training and 11% by managers with full agricultural training. The proportions of the latter two categories continuously went up in the past years, while the number of farms managed by farm managers with no agricultural training was halved from 2013. This trend is consistent with the decrease in the number of specialist livestock farms, since the proportion of farm managers with no agricultural training is typically higher in this sector.

In the period between 2013 and 2023, the number of livestock specialist farms managed by farm managers with no agricultural training fell at the highest pace, by 83%. By contrast, the number of livestock specialist farms managed by farm managers with full agricultural training decreased to a lower extent, by 13%. As a consequence, though the difference between the distribution of managers of crop specialist and livestock specialist farms by training lessened, it still exists: in 2023, 61% of livestock specialist farms were managed by people with no agricultural training, while the proportion of those managed by people with full agricultural training was merely 6.5%. By contrast, managers with no agricultural training accounted for 53% and those with full agricultural training for 12% in the case of crop specialist farms.

The proportion of managers with no agricultural training was highest (75%) among the managers of granivore specialist farms, where that of managers with full agricultural training was merely 4.2%.

The proportion of farm managers with full agricultural training was the highest, 14% in the case of farms belonging to the typology group of mixed crop farming.

Labour input, within which size and share of family labour goes on diminishing

Labour input in agricultural work was 213 thousand annual work units (AWUsOne AWU is equal to the amount of time worked on a farm over one year by one person employed full time in agriculture (1,800 working hours). This way of accounting also takes into consideration work completed in a broken period or seasonally.^[2]) in 2023, which was a decrease of 13% compared to 2020 and of 40% compared to 2013.

The decline was owing to a decrease in the labour input of private farms, where AWUs were 21% lower than in 2020. An opposite trend, a growth of 3.2% was recorded for agricultural enterprises. Thus, the share of private farms went down to 61% and that of agricultural enterprises rose to 39%, which was a significant change compared to data for 2013, when the proportion of private farms was as much as 74% and that of agricultural enterprises 26%.

In 2023, family labour force performed almost the half (48%) of agricultural work, the share of permanent employees being 39% and that of seasonal employees 12%. From 2013, the structure of labour force changed substantially, then the share of family labour force being as much as 65%, while that of permanent employees 24% and the share of seasonal employees 9.3%.

AWUs per farm were 1.1 in 2023, which was 6.5% higher than the value for 2020, however, it was a decrease of 10% compared to 2013. The labour force needs of surviving farms did not change significantly, however, with the closing down of smaller farms and the growth in concentration, AWUs per farm also lessened over ten years.

In terms of AWUs, substantial differences are observed among the different types of farms: their value was 2.6 for farms specialised in keeping various animals, which can be considered as labour-intensive, 2.3 for farms specialised in horticulture and merely 0.8 for farms specialised in arable crop production, requiring less labour.

Rate of participation in rural development programmes increases significantly

Data for the farm structure survey conducted in 2023 were compared to the participation of farms in the Rural Development ProgrammeTo analyse the latter, we took as a basis support data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IIER) operated by the Hungarian State Treasury (MÁK). Farms that in the period between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2023 had an approved application for support in the case of measures determined in Chapter 1 of Title III in Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council were considered as receiving rural development support.^[3].

56 thousand farms, 29% of the total received rural development support between 2021 and 2023, which was a substantial growth compared to the 18% rate for the 2018–2020 period.

The significance of farms receiving rural development support was also apparent in these farms using 3.9 million hectares, 78% of Hungary’s total agricultural area in 2023, and keeping 79% of the total livestock, which was about 1.4 million livestock units. Both showed an increase compared to data for 2020, when the share of supported farms was 70% of agricultural area and 72% of livestock units.

By type of farm, the proportion of farms receiving rural development support was highest in the aggregate typology groups of farms producing various crops, farms specialised in keeping grazing livestock and farms specialised in arable crop production, while the lowest proportion was observed in the category of specialist granivore farms.

Vision of private farms receiving rural development support

HCSO surveyed private farms for how farmers imagine the future of their farm and of their own. We surveyed for how many more years farmers plan to manage their farm, and also how they imagine the future of their farm when they give up farming. Some half of farm managers had not yet been thinking about the question or did not wish to answer. Out of the respondents to the question, larger proportions of managers of private farms receiving rural development support answered that they would like to farm for over 10 years than managers of those not receiving this support. In 2023, 56% of farms receiving rural development support answered that they would like to farm for more than 10 years, while the same proportion was 52% for farms not benefitting from this support.

Examining how farmers imagine the future of their farm after stopping farming, we can find the following: 29% of managers of farms receiving the support planned that the farm would remain within the family and 4.8% planned the sale. The proportion of the latter was 7.3% for those not receiving the support.

82% of Hungary’s agricultural area is arable land

On 1 June 2023, Hungary’s agricultural area came to some 5.1 million hectares, which was a 3.4% higher value compared to 2020 and 12% higher on 2013. 82% of the agricultural area was covered by arable land, 16% was grassland, 1.6% orchards and 1.2% vineyards, and the proportion of kitchen gardens was below 0.1%.

63% of the agricultural area was used by private farms and 37% by agricultural enterprises in 2023. The proportion of private farms substantially rose over a decade: this proportion was nearly equal to that of agricultural enterprises back in 2013 (53% of the area was cultivated by private farms and 47% by agricultural enterprises), while the agricultural area used by private farms increased to 3.2 million hectares by 2023. This was an expansion of 7.2% compared to 2020 and of 33% on 2013. The proportion of agricultural enterprises was highest in the case of arable land areas (38%), while they used only a quarter of vineyards and 23% of orchards. The largest rate of fall was observed for grassland areas, the share of this land use category being 14 percentage points lower in the case of agricultural enterprises. However, this was for the most part due to a growth in the grassland areas of private farms: private farms utilised more than 200 thousand hectares larger grassland areas in 2023 than in 2013.

Legal persons, thus business associations – with the exception of a few cases determined in rules of law – cannot acquire productive land in Hungary, but can be legal land users of areas in terms of lease or service contracts, asset management or other legal forms. In 2023, agricultural enterprises were farming some 153 thousand hectares of own agricultural area and a further 89 thousand hectares of agricultural area used under other title, in addition to their rented areas (1.6 million hectares). By contrast, private farms typically use their own land area, owning two-thirds of their agricultural area in 2023. In case of the different land use categories there were considerable differences: private farms owned 66% of the arable land area, 91% of the greenhouse area, 84% of the orchards, 89% of the vineyards and 64% of the grassland area they used. The proportion of the own used area of private farms decreased in all land use categories compared to 2013.

The decisive part of the agricultural area was typically used by private farms in 2023. Outstanding were Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg (82%), Bács-Kiskun (72%), Nógrád (71%) and Csongrád-Csanád (71%) Counties, however, the proportion of private farms was lower in Baranya (48%) and Somogy (47%) Counties.

Distribution differed in case of the different land use categories: for example, agricultural enterprises used the majority (57%) of orchards in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, while they were farming merely 95 hectares in this land use category in Csongrád-Csanád County.

The vast majority of vineyards was concentrated by private farmers, especially so in Békés (99%), Nógrád (94%) and Csongrád-Csanád (92%) Counties.

Changing farm structure

The largest part (1.4 million hectares) of the agricultural area was utilised by farms having an area of between 100 and 300 hectares, which made up 28% of the total area. This size category expanded at the highest rate of 47% compared to 2013. The second largest area was utilised by farms using an area of between 500 and 1,000 hectares. A dynamic increase in area was measured in this category as well, a total 719 thousand hectares belonging here in 2023.

Different farm structures were observed for orchards and vineyards and for grassland areas: farms of between 20 and 50 hectares used the largest area in case of the former two, while farms of between 100 and 300 hectares were dominant in case of grassland areas in 2023.

Compared to the farm structure in 2013, continuous decreases were recorded for the two smallest size categories (of 0–1 and 1–5 hectares) and the largest one (of over 1,200 hectares). Back in 2013, the largest area (nearly 1.1 million hectares) was utilised by farms with an agricultural area of over 1,200 hectares, which shrank to a third, 338 thousand hectares by 2023. The area used by units farming smaller than 1 hectare of area diminished to a third, too, which thus made up merely 0.2% of the total area.

Farm sizes may have been influenced by new kinds of support as well as those already existing but reformed. Another component determining the legal environment of farming is the 2013 Land Act (Act CXXII of 2013 on Agricultural and Forestry Land Trade), which specifies a maximum of 300 hectares for land acquisition and of 1,200 hectares for farm size.

The average farm sizes of arable land areas continuously rose in the past years. In 2023, it was 29 hectares on average, which was 14% larger compared to 2020 and 45% more than in 2013. The median was 5.0 hectares in 2023, compared with 4.0 hectares in 2020 and 2.4 hectares in 2013. There were substantial regional differences in average arable land areas. The most farms using arable land area were in Bács-Kiskun (17.8 thousand) and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg (17.3 thousand) Counties, however, their average area was only two-thirds (67%) and the half (49%), respectively, of the national value. Vast farms can be found in Fejér (49 hectares on average) as well as Vas, Baranya and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (equally 47 hectares on average) Counties.

The trend of concentration was observed for the other land use categories as well: the average area of grassland areas increased from 13.6 to 14.7 hectares, that of orchards from 1.9 to 3.4 hectares and the average area of vineyards from 1.0 to 2.2 hectares over 10 years. The largest grassland areas were farmed in Hajdú-Bihar County (an average 27 hectares), however, the number of farmers was outstanding in Bács-Kiskun County, where more than 8.4 thousand were engaged in mowing and pasturing, which was 16% of the national value.

Fruit production was concentrated in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, nearly one-third of farmers (7.7 thousand) in this land use category performing their activity there, on an average area of 4.2 hectares, which is larger than the national one.

Areas of an average size exceeding the double of the national value were farmed by vine-growers in Heves (5.0 hectares) and Bács-Kiskun (4.8 hectares) Counties. The distribution of the number of farms was somewhat more balanced: 14% and 11% of farms performed their activity in Veszprém and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén Counties, respectively, and 48% of vine-growing farms were operating in the four counties mentioned.

In 2023, 11% of managers of farms utilising agricultural area had full agricultural training, the highest value being in Heves County (16%), compared with only the half of the former value in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County (7.9%). Also 11% of farmers utilising arable land area had full agricultural training. They were farming 100 hectares on average, which was more than three times the national average, so they managed 39% of the total utilised arable land area. Most, some 63 thousand of the managers had practical experience only and were farming areas of 12 hectares on average.

As for grassland areas, the proportion of those having full agricultural training was unchanged compared to 2020 (14%), their number slightly growing. By contrast, in the case of the land use category of orchards, a decrease occurred here, too, similarly to the case of those with other agricultural qualifications, there being nearly 500 fewer managers with full agricultural training and about 8 thousand fewer engaged in fruit production than in 2020.

Sown area of sunflower steadily expands

Thanks to wheat and maize, our two most significant arable crops, the proportion of cereals was still the highest, however, it was 4.0 percentage points lower in 2023 than 10 years earlier. The share of industrial crops was 2.3 percentage points higher than in 2013, however, it slightly went down compared to 2020. The reason for this was the shrinking of the sown area of rape, which area lessened by nearly 100 thousand hectares over 3 years, falling practically to the 2013 value. The sown area of sunflower continuously grew, so the weight of industrial crops did not change substantially.

Crop production under glass was carried out on 1,845 hectares in 2023, an 8.3% smaller area than in 2020, a significant part of which was in Csongrád-Csanád County (43%). 29% of producing facilities were heated in 2023, and they mainly occurred in Csongrád-Csanád County (on 264 hectares). A further 74 hectares of heated glasshouses can be found in Bács-Kiskun County, where, however, their proportion was merely 21%. The highest proportion of heated glasshouses (79%) was in Fejér County, on some 9.2 hectares. Glasshouses or polytunnels of a width of over 4 metres accounted for the overwhelming majority (92%) of areas, areas under smaller cover being typical in Csongrád-Csanád County, on some 70 hectares. Nationally, 59% of glasshouses were single-bay and 27% multi-bay structures and 14% were blocks, which does not show substantial regional differences.

Proportion of irrigable areas on the increase

Merely 5.1% of Hungary’s agricultural area (258 thousand hectares) was irrigable, 59% of which (154 thousand hectares) was actually irrigated in the period between June 2022 and June 2023.

The majority of irrigated areas (90%) belonged to the land use category of arable land areas, where, however, a smaller part of the capacity was exploited than in case of orchards, where some water was applied in some form on 77% of irrigable areas. The area of irrigable orchards increased by about 5.8 thousand hectares compared to 2013, so water replacement possibility is currently built up on nearly a fifth (19%) of the area of the land use category.

The proportion of orchards equipped for irrigation was highest for cherry, making up one-third of the area of the plantations, followed by nectarine and pear, where this proportion reached 28%. Nearly a quarter of apple plantations, and lower proportions of walnut, peach and plum orchards were equipped for irrigation. Apple plantations had the largest area – 5.6 thousand hectares – equipped for irrigation, followed by sour cherry, with 3.1 thousand hectares.

The most widespread method of irrigation was sprinkler irrigation, which was applied on three-quarters of irrigated agricultural area in 2023. The proportion of surface irrigation was 14% and that of trickle irrigation 10%. The proportion of users of sprinkler irrigation method rose by 8.0 percentage points and the proportion of the use of trickle irrigation method by 6.2 percentage points compared to 2016.

43% of farms utilising irrigable agricultural area had only subsurface water extraction possibilities in 2023. This high proportion was due to irrigation from drilled wells primarily being typical on smaller farms. No larger renovation of the irrigation system or the distribution network was recorded for the majority (79%) of farms in the preceding three years, and 18% of them carried out smaller maintenance work. Hand irrigation controllers and ones combined with an automatic irrigation controller were used by nearly a third (28% and 3.2%, respectively) of farmers to irrigate water. The acceptance of precision irrigation is still low (0.3%), and two-thirds (66%) of farms did not have any irrigation controllers.

Proportion of areas with covered soil and of soil-friendly cultivation growing

In accordance with agro-environmental management, the application of water-conserving agricultural engineering contributes to the protection of soil and the improvement of the biological state of soil. The covering of soil surface as long as possible ensures its carbon-sequestration capacity, helps protect soil from harmful effects of erosion and enhances the moisture-preserving capacity of soil. The application of proper soil cultivation is also the basis of sustainable nutrient management.

Out of soil covering methods applied on outdoor arable land areas, usual soil covering (with plants sown in autumn) went on representing the largest proportion, with 47%, in 2023. Of the other land cover types, the proportion of land covered with catch crop, intermediate crop or cover crop in arable land or with plant residues increased significantly. The former rose more than 4.5-fold and the latter nearly two-fold. There was a fall of one-third in the size of uncovered, cultivated and unsown areas compared to 2016.

Soil-friendly cultivation was applied on 1.3 million hectares in 2023, which was over three times as much as in 2016.

By contrast, the proportion of areas preferring conventional cultivation, mostly with ploughing, was down by 24 percentage points. This form of cultivation made up merely 64% of cultivation applied on outdoor arable land areas, compared with 88% in 2016.

From 2016, the proportion of uncultivated areas, cultivated only by direct sowing, increased substantially, more than the double.

Ageing fruit plantations

In 2023, the area of orchards came to some 83 thousand hectares, 87% of which (72 thousand hectares) was plantations of tree fruit species. Apple was produced on 33%, sour cherry on 19% and walnut on 14% of orchards. Between 2020 and 2023, the area of all fruit species went down except for walnut: the areas of apple and sour cherry both by 12%, and peach areas suffered the largest, 44% decline.

Out of the surveyed fruit plantations, mostly pear areas were ageing, which projects an unfavourable future for the sector. In 2023, two-fifths of pear plantations were 15 to 24 years old, and a further one-fifth were 25 years old and older. 14% of apple plantations were 25 years old and older, and the proportion of plantations aged under 5 years was 9.1%. Among the examined fruit species, it was in the case of apricot plantations that the proportion of those aged under 5 years was the highest (16%), in addition, more than the half of the plantations belonged to the area planted 5–14 years earlier.

One of the efficient tools of protection against weather damage is ice damage prevention net. Out of orchards, the proportion of areas covered with ice net was highest for apple plantations, reaching 9.3% in 2023. From the last, 2018 orchard survey, the area of apple plantations covered with ice net increased more than two-fold, so it came already to 2.2 thousand hectares. This proportion was 5.2% and 5.5% in the case of cherry and pear plantations, respectively, and did not reach 1.5% for orchards of the remaining major fruit species.

Importance of organic farming grows in crop production

The size of agricultural areas under organic farming went up by 15%, to 309 thousand hectares in 2023 compared to three years earlier, so the increase in the area was essentially higher than the growth in total agricultural area. In 2020, 5.5% of Hungary’s agricultural area was organically farmed, which rose to 6.1% by 2023. Three-quarters of organically farmed areas (230 thousand hectares) were fully converted to organic farming, and one-quarter (78 thousand hectares) were areas in conversion in 2023. The size of these latter areas was cut by 20 thousand hectares compared to 2020 simultaneously with the increase in total organic area.

On 174 thousand hectares, nearly six-tenths (57%) of organic areas, there was grassland, which made up 22% of total grassland area in Hungary. 36% of organically farmed areas were arable land areas (113 thousand hectares), which were merely 2.7% of domestic arable land areas. The vast majority of organic agricultural products produced on arable land areas was cereals and green fodder. The proportion of organic plantations slightly increased between 2020 and 2023 (from 4.8% to 7.0%). The significance of organically farmed plantations expanded even in view of total fruit production. Though the total area of orchards shrank over three years, fruit and berry plantations farmed according to organic guidelines, which made up only 12% back three years earlier, lay on 20 thousand hectares, almost a quarter of the area of orchards in 2023. The proportion of organically farmed vineyards, however, was low, making up 3.0% of total vineyards.

In 2023, 4,910 farms were engaged in organic farming, one thousand more than in 2020. Although organic farming increases in importance, it still constitutes a narrow part of production, since only 2.5% of all farms performed organic farming.

Animal keeping increasingly forced back and concentrated

Livestock farming as a proportion of agriculture decreased in 2023 compared to three years earlier. Livestock expressed in livestock units (1,750 thousand) was nearly the same as in 2013 (1,760 thousand), however, it was 7.6% less than in 2020 (1,894 thousand). In the past 10 years, there was a continuous decrease in the number of farms keeping livestock. Their number fell by 125 thousand, to about a third compared to 2013, and by 41 thousand (35%) even compared to 2020, so animals were kept already on merely 76 thousand farms in 2023.

In 2023, 127 thousand of all farms did not have livestock reaching a livestock unitThe animal species of only cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, poultry and does are included in livestock unit calculations. See Methodology.^[4], and the group of these farms expanded by 28% (27 thousand) from 2013.

The number of farms of below 5 livestock units considerably decreased, being 179 thousand back in 2013, 93 thousand in 2020 and merely 56 thousand in 2023, so the number of farms keeping few animals went down to hardly more than three-tenths (by 69%) from 2013. The number of larger farms (of at least 100 livestock units) was practically the same in 2023 (2.0 thousand) as the data for the preceding three censuses (1.8 thousand–2.2 thousand).

In 2023, the size of Hungary’s livestock expressed in livestock units diminished in all categories compared to 2020. Livestock lessened the least (by 4.3%) on farms of over 100 livestock units, which, however, was a decline of 63 thousand livestock units. In the period between 2013 and 2023, livestock fell the most on farms of below 5 livestock units.

The value of livestock per 100 hectares of agricultural area was especially high in Komárom-Esztergom County (livestock corresponding to 77 livestock units). This value was nearly six times as high as the average for Heves County (13).

In 2023, livestock units per farm were highest in Komárom-Esztergom (20) and Baranya (15) Counties, being even more than three times as high as the values for Heves (4) and Csongrád-Csanád (5) Counties. Compared to 2020, the growth in livestock per farm was most intensive (74%) in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, while the largest decrease (of 11%) was recorded for Vas County.

The distribution of Hungary’s livestock, expressed in livestock units, slightly changed in the period between 2013 and 2023. Pigs made up the largest proportion (39%) in 2013 and already the cattle population did so (37%) in 2023, due to a continuous rise until 2020 in the number of animals for this latter animal species. In the ten-year period examined, the proportions of pig and of sheep and goat populations, expressed in livestock units, went down continuously, by 4.3 and 1.3 percentage points in total, respectively. In the same period, increases of 5.4 and 0.5 percentage point were detected in the proportions of cattle and poultry populations, respectively.

In 2023, six-tenths (60%) of farms keeping livestock were managed by farm managers aged over 55 years, of whom the proportion of those aged 65 years and over (37%) significantly stood out. From 2020, the proportion of those belonging to the 45 to 54-year-old age bracket grew the most (by 1.3 percentage points).

From 2020, the number of farms where the manager had at least basic agricultural training fell at nearly the same rate as the decrease in the number of all farms. While the proportion of those having basic or middle-level training was merely 29% in 2020, this value rose to already 35% by 2023. Besides, the proportion of farm managers with full agricultural training slightly went up, too. While 11% of all farm managers in Hungary had full agricultural training in 2023, this was merely 7.0% in case of the managers of farms keeping animals. 58% of the managers of farms having livestock did not have any agricultural training at all or were farming with practical experience only, their proportion decreasing compared to the proportion of 66% in 2020. The main reason for the changes was that larger proportions of farms managed with no agricultural training were closed down in this period.

Compared to data for 2013, keeping major animal species declined in importance among farm managers belonging to age groups under 35 years.

In 2023, 45 to 54-year-old poultry keepers kept twice as many animals as (7.5 million more animals than) and managers aged at least 65 years 50% (2.4 million) more animals than ten years earlier. From 2013, the cattle populations of farm managers aged 65 years and over grew 2.5-fold, in addition, their pig and sheep populations increased as well, by 37% and 20%, respectively.

There were more marked differences in the proportions of livestock populations of the different major animal species by the level of agricultural training of farm managers. In 2023, the proportion of livestock populations of farm managers with at least basic agricultural training was highest among managers of farms having a pig population. Over two-thirds (67%) of the pig population belonged to farm managers having acquired full agricultural training.

Proportion of organic livestock keepers unchanged

The number of farm animals kept in organic farming is still insignificant within the total livestock population in spite of the available subsidies and organic fodder basis (grassland areas, cereal and green fodder). It did not reach 1.0% of the total number of animals broken down by species apart from bovine animals. The proportion of organic cattle keeping was somewhat more significant, 23 thousand bovine animals were kept in organic farming in 2023 – one thousand fewer than three years earlier –, which was 2.7% of all cattle.

Agricultural machines and equipment and agricultural digitalisation solutions used more and more widely

Agricultural machines were used on 83% of farms in the year to 1 June 2023. 45% of farms were producing with their own machines, while 57% used rented tools or services, too, for farming. From 2013, the proportion of farms having agricultural machines went up substantially. It was the proportion of farms using their own tillage machine that rose to the highest extent (by 21 percentage points) compared to 2013. 40% of farms used their own tractors in 2023, a total of 145 thousand, which was 25% more than the stock of tractors ten years earlier. The growth occurred among tractors with higher performance. The number of tractors with a performance of 100 kW or more nearly doubled, while the number of those with a performance of less than 40 kW was down by 15% compared to 2013. Only one in five farms with an SO of below 4 thousand euros used their own tractor, while those with an SO of above 100 thousand euros were much better equipped with machines: 80% possessed a tractor, 74% a tillage machine and 61% a seed drill or a planter.

13% of farms had an agricultural storage unit (grain crop, vegetable or fruit storage unit or cold storage plant) on 1 June 2023. The total capacity of grain crop storage units for storing cereals, oilseeds and pulses was 27.4 million m3, over the half of which was possessed by farms producing an SO of 500 thousand euros or more.

In agriculture, too, the use of digital tools, devices and machines is increasingly widespread, with which they try to compensate for the decrease in the labour force on the one hand, and the aim is to facilitate work processes and reduce costs on the other hand.

9.8% of farms used precision farming tools in 2023. Guided/automatic steering was applied the most often, on 5.4% of farms, which was a 1.4 percentage points higher proportion than in 2020. Also more frequent became the application of site-specific management measuresSowing, planting, nutrient application, irrigation, plant protection or weeding, with the application of variable quantities.^[5] (4.5%), robotsFor example, self-propelled machines, hoeing and berry-picking robots, and GPS/RTK-based high-precision tools.^[6] (1.8%) and fleet tracking (2.1%). Because of tightening regulations, the use of drones was reduced, in addition, the proportion of farms applying yield mapping or making a plant condition surveyFor example, monitoring of NDVI (normalised difference vegetation index), leaf growth, and health status of plants.^[7] decreased as well compared to 2020. In 2023, the highest proportions of all precision farming tools and techniques were used typically among farms producing arable crops or various crops.

In 2023, 55% of farms not using precision tools deemed that they did not need such tools for production, and according to 13% of them, the price of digital tools was too high. From 2020, it was less and less typical (there was a 25 percentage-point decrease in) that farms did not use digital technologies because they did not need them for production, but an increasingly impeding factor was the high price of digital tools (going up by 7.3 percentage points).

More and more farms try to automate the different work processes and circumstances of animal keeping, as well as of tillage, for the sake of more efficient farming. Out of machines and equipment used for animal keeping, animal feed grinder and mixer was the most widely used, 32% of animal keeping farms using this in 2023. 3.7% of animal keeping farms had an automatic feeding system, the regulation of cowshed or stable temperature was automated on 2.0% of them, while the proportion of the use of air cleaning equipment, a milking robot and other (e.g. feed-distribution, manure-carrying, etc.) robots did not reach even one per cent.

As there are more and more precise regulations of precision farming and animal keeping, being automated, specialists with special knowledge will be more needed in spite of the decreasing demand for labour force.

81% of farms collected in one form or another the data generated in the course of farming, 70% of them on paper, too, at the same time, 13% with general software (e.g. Excel, Access), 2.0% with special software, and on 19% of them a book-keeper performed this task. In 2023, the collection of the data generated in the course of farming was most typical on farms specialised in arable crop production, 92% of them collecting in one way or another the data, compared with only 53% of farms specialised in permanent crop production.

The use of management information systems (MIS) still did not spread: merely 8.7% of farms used them, out of which primarily the use of record-keeping softwareComputer program for keeping a record of land area, farming operations, animals, tools, stock, etc.^[8] was typical (affecting 8.4% of all farms). However, only 2.2% of farms applied company management and/or administration software, representing a higher level, and merely 1.6% of them made use of decision support softwareComputer program for keeping a record of, for example, process optimisation, pest recognition, nutrient supply, feeding, etc.^[9].

Although renewable energy production and utilisation is still rather slight in agriculture – occurring on hardly a few thousand farms –, yet they are increasingly spreading. Back in 2013, hardly half a thousand farms utilised solar energy in one way or another, compared with already more than 6 thousand ten years later. Solar panels used for the production of electricity can be found on almost all of these farms. Solar panels were used on nearly 2,500 arable-crop-producing farms, in addition, they were applied on 600–750 farms each among farms engaged in permanent crop production, combining animal keeping and arable crop production, and engaged in keeping grazing livestock.

Some seven hundred farms had solar collectors in 2023, out of which nearly 300 were arable-crop-producing and over 100 permanent-crop-producing farms.

The proportion of farms using solar panels was highest in Baranya and Csongrád-Csanád Counties (4.5% and 4.4%, respectively) in 2023, while it was merely half as much (below 2.0%) in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Heves and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Counties.

Biogas from biomass, and hydropower continued to be the least utilised energy sources, however, the number of farms utilising these slightly grew in the last ten years.

The application of various energy production and utilisation solutions was much more typical on large farms, since in 2023, it was typical on at least 10% of farms reaching an SO of 100 thousand, on 37% of those with an SO of between 1 million and 3 million and on 54% of farms with an SO of above 3 million euros.

[1]:↑ See Methodology.

[2]:↑ One AWU is equal to the amount of time worked on a farm over one year by one person employed full time in agriculture (1,800 working hours). This way of accounting also takes into consideration work completed in a broken period or seasonally.

[3]:↑ To analyse the latter, we took as a basis support data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IIER) operated by the Hungarian State Treasury (MÁK). Farms that in the period between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2023 had an approved application for support in the case of measures determined in Chapter 1 of Title III in Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council were considered as receiving rural development support.

[4]:↑ The animal species of only cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, poultry and does are included in livestock unit calculations. See Methodology.

[5]:↑ Sowing, planting, nutrient application, irrigation, plant protection or weeding, with the application of variable quantities.

[6]:↑ For example, self-propelled machines, hoeing and berry-picking robots, and GPS/RTK-based high-precision tools.

[7]:↑ For example, monitoring of NDVI (normalised difference vegetation index), leaf growth, and health status of plants.

[8]:↑ Computer program for keeping a record of land area, farming operations, animals, tools, stock, etc.

[9]:↑ Computer program for keeping a record of, for example, process optimisation, pest recognition, nutrient supply, feeding, etc.

Further data and information

Methodology

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