WRITTEN QUESTION P-4081/97 by Lutz Goepel (PPE) to the Commission (18 December 1997)

Subject: EU farm structures

The Commission proposals for the further development of European agricultural policy as set out in Agenda 2000 provide, in particular, for the introduction of individual ceilings on compensatory payments on the basis of market organization. The impact of any such ceilings in the different Member States will depend heavily on the respective structural circumstances of individual farms.

In the Court of Auditors report (C 343/97) attention is drawn to the three biggest aid recipients in the five biggest Member States, which are represented as above-average subsidy recipients. This fails to provide a representative account of the number of farms with larger surface areas in the Member States as a whole. And the report on the agricultural situation in the EU (1996) provides only limited information about the initial situation in the Member States as regards larger farms.

Is the European Commission in a position to provide the European Parliament with up-to-date statistics on:

1. farms in the EU of 15 broken down by surface area as follows: under 15ha; 15-50ha; 50-100ha; 100-200ha; 200-300ha; 300-500ha; 500ha and over; and

2. current stock levels, where possible broken down by numbers per category (diary cows, bulls/oxen; sheep and goats) at the level of the Member States?

Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (13 February 1998)

Pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 of 29 February 1988 on the organisation of Community surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings between 1988 and 1997 ((OJ L 56, 2.3.1988. )), the Member States regularly carry out Community surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings. The most recent surveys were in 1989/90, 1993, 1995 and 1997, although the results for the last of these are not yet available.

The agricultural structure surveys yield information on, inter alia, farms' crops, livestock herds and labour input. This information is collected by Eurostat, which stores it in the Eurofarm data bank, analyses it for Community purposes and makes it available to users in the form of standard tables. The content of the standard tables (e.g. the breakdown by the size class of holdings) is decided on in consultation with the Member States and laid down in a Commission Decision. The distribution of both holdings and livestock herds by size class can be seen from these tables, and this information will be forwarded directly to the Honourable Member and the General Secretariat of Parliament. The size classes correspond to the Eurofarm subdivision laid down in the Commission Decision. Other breakdowns can be made available on request, although this requires special processing (the creation of an ad hoc table) in cooperation with the statistical offices in the Member States. Because of the involvement of the Member States, ad hoc tables usually take between four and six weeks to become available.

All the tabular data stored in Eurofarm and all statistical information on other agricultural and non-agricultural topics can be obtained directly from Eurostat's Brussels Data Shop.