Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union

E1: Agriculture and fisheries

European Commission, Eurostat
L-2920, LUXEMBOURG

Cropping patterns describe the share of utilised agricultural area (UAA) under the main agricultural land cover types (arable land, permanent grassland and land under permanent crops). They provide insights into the relationship between the environment and farming systems and developments within a certain region/territory. In the EU, agricultural areas are mostly used for growing arable crops (such as cereals, fodder crops, industrial crops), permanent crops (like fruit and berry plantations, olive trees, vineyards), and permanent grasslands. The latter (when extensively managed) are generally considered as the most important agricultural area from a nature conservation perspective, providing habitats for many wild plants and animal species. From a climate change perspective, permanent grasslands are important to keep unploughed since they are significant carbon sinks.

There are many non-agronomic drivers affecting cropping patterns such as sectoral policies, market prices, climate change, natural resources, etc. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the main EU policies influencing cropping patterns, but regionally or nationally, energy and climate policies can have more influence on cropping patterns than the CAP. CAP consists of different policy instruments with different influence on the cropping patterns targeting at the maintenance of permanent grassland, crop diversification instead of mono-cropping, preservation of 'ecological focus areas', etc.

The indicator on cropping pattern is part of the Agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) of the European Union (EU) which track the integration of environmental concerns into the CAP at EU, national and regional levels.

Cropping patterns are defined as trends in the share of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) under the main agricultural land cover types (arable land, permanent grassland and land under permanent crops). The table shows the share of main land types in utilised agricultural area (UAA) by NUTS 2 regions from 2005 onwards.

The data are collected by the Member States (plus the United Kingdom and for some years Norway, Switzerland and North Macedonia) on the level of agricultural holdings (farms) within the scope of the Farm structure survey (FSS). The legal basis for the FSS from 2010 onwards is Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 of 19 November 2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods, which repealed Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/1988.

The sum of the three main agricultural land cover types does not necessarily equates to 100% for each region/country, because kitchen gardens are excluded. Kitchen gardens actually also belong to the agricultural land cover types, but are negligible and therefore excluded from this table as they occupy only 0.1 % of the utilised agricultural area in the EU. They are, however, included in the statistics of the main data sets (2013 onwards: ef_lus_main; 2005-2013: ef_oluaareg) and in the AEI-article on cropping patterns.

Percentage of utilised agricultural area (UAA)

Calendar year

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link in "Related metadata" at the end of the report).

European Statistical System (ESS)

Data provider: Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), Unit E1: Agriculture and fisheries

Data source: Farm structure survey (FSS)

• data from 2013 onwards: table ef_lus_main - Main farm land use by NUTS 2 regions
• data from 2005-2013: table ef_oluaareg - Land use: number of farms and areas of different crops by agricultural size of farm (UAA) and NUTS 2 regions

Every 3+ years

The Farm structure survey (FSS) is carried out basically every 3-4 years as a sample survey, and once in ten years as a census. The time series available in this table is 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016; planned update foreseen for 2020 and 2023. More information can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link in "Related metadata" at the end of the report).

> T+2 years

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States, plus the United Kingdom and for some years Norway, Switzerland and North Macedonia.

> 75% EU MS

Comparability across countries is considered to be high.

Further details on comparability can be found in the metadata of the source dataset (see link in "Related metadata" at the end of the report).

> 10 years

This table covers data from 2005 onwards.

Generally, the Farm structure survey (FSS) has been carried out since 1966. The online database is available from 1990 onwards. Historic data about the main land types in hectares from 1997-2007 are available in the data set ef_lu_ovcropaa in Eurobase - Eurostat's dissemination database.

> 4 data points

Details on comparability can be found in the metadata of the source dataset (see link in "Related metadata" at the end of the report).

No paper publication

Eurobase table tai05 - Share of main land types in utilised agricultural area (UAA) by NUTS 2 regions

Statistics explained article about cropping patterns in Eurostat's dedicated section on agri-environmental indicators.

Cropping patterns is one of a set of 28 indicators was developed by the Commission in close collaboration with Member States following the last Commission Communication on Agri-environmental indicators of 2006.