Farming incomes per worker in the EU decreased by 1.7% in 2014 according to first estimates issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.
The estimates are based on data supplied by the national authorities in the EU28 Member States. The figures also show between that 2005 and 2014, EU28 farming incomes are estimated to have increased by 34.4%, while agricultural labour input fell by 24.6%.
In Ireland’s case incomes per farming worker were down 1.3% in 2014.
According to Eurostat, the decrease of real agricultural income per worker across the union in 2014 is the result of a fall in real agricultural income (-4.0%), partly compensated by a reduction in agricultural labour input (-2.3%).
The decrease in EU28 farming incomes is mainly the result of a fall in the value of crop output (-6.0%) and animal output (-0.9%), combined with a decrease in real terms for input costs (-3.6%).
Compared with the previous year, real agricultural income per farming worker in 2014 is estimated to have risen in eight EU Member States and fallen in 20. The highest increases are expected in Slovenia (+13.3%), Hungary (+9.1%), the Czech Republic (+7.2%) and the UK (+6.9%), and the largest decreases in Finland (-22.8%), Lithuania (-19.4%), Belgium (-15.2%), Italy (-11.0%), Estonia (-10.9%) and Denmark (-10.1%).
Compared with 2005, real agricultural income per worker in 2014 has risen in 19 Member States, albeit in different proportions, and remained almost stable in three, while falls were recorded in Luxembourg, Malta, Ireland, Finland, Croatia and Belgium.
Compared with 2013, the value of EU28 agricultural output at producer prices in 2014 is estimated to have decreased by 3.4%, mainly due to a marked fall in real terms in the value of crop production (-6.0%) and a smaller decrease in the value of animal output (-0.9%).
