Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today?

Abstract

This paper takes stock of farms and farmland worldwide, based on agricultural censuses and survey data. According to the data, there are more than 608 million farms in the world, of which more than 90 percent are family farms that together occupy around 70-80 percent of farmland and produce about 80 percent of the world's food in value terms. Some of the data gathered suggests that the terms "family farms" and "small farms" should not be used interchangeably: the latter account for 84 percent of all farms worldwide, but operate only around 12 percent of all agricultural land, producing roughly 36 percent of the world's food. The publication concludes that there is a need to improve agricultural censuses if we want to deepen our understanding of farms, including indicators such as the ages of farm workers and agricultural holders, and information on seasonal or temporary hired labour. A better and more complete understanding will guide policy makers' efforts towards achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals.