About 1.5 million farms in the EU manage fruit orchards (including nut orchards) that covered 3.4 million hectares in 2017. A further 2.2 million hectares of fresh vegetables were cultivated in the EU in 2017 by about 0.8 million farms.
Spain had the largest fruit production area in the EU; the 1.4 million hectares accounted for two-fifths (40.1%) of the EU total. Italy had the largest production area of vegetables; the 0.4 million hectares accounted for 17.8% of the EU total.
Almonds mostly grown in Spain. Largest area of apple orchards in Poland.
Almond orchards across the EU covered 743 000 hectares in 2017 (22.5% of the total EU fruit area). Apple orchards covered 522 000 hectares (15.5% of the total EU fruit area), the second largest fruit area in the EU by species.
Spain accounted for the largest area of almond orchards (85.2% of the EU total).
Nearly one-third of the EU's apple orchards were in Poland (31.1%). This was a similar area to that of the next three Member States combined: Italy (11.0%), Romania (10.6%) and France (9.6%).
A majority of the EU’s cultivated tomato area in Italy and Spain.
Tomatoes were cultivated on 241 000 hectares across the EU in 2017 (equivalent to 10.8% of the total fresh vegetables area cultivated). The second most widely cultivated vegetable was onions, which was farmed on 181 000 hectares (or 8.1% of the total vegetable area).
Italy cultivated the largest area of tomatoes in the EU (38.4% of the EU total), followed by Spain (25.2%), Romania (9.2%) and Portugal (8.7%). The Netherlands (19.0%) accounted for nearly one-fifth (19.0%) of the EU's total onion area, followed by Poland (14.7% and Spain (14.1%).
For further information, see the Statistics Explained article The fruit and vegetable sector in the EU – a statistical overview.
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