Page 13 - Changing Living Spaces

An Introduction to the Living Spaces Concept

0.0600 40.00

0.0450 30.00

0.0300 20.00

0.0150 10.00

0.0000 0.00
1949-60 1960-71 1971-79 1979-91 1991-99 1999-2010
Annual growth rate of farm size for each period (left bar)
Average farm size for each period (ha) (right bar)
Figure 2 Expanding Farm Size in Hessen, Germany, 1949–2010
Source Figure 2 was compiled by original calculation based on the data derived from
Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt (2012b) (1.2 Betriebe). The average value of farm
size within the period shown in figure 2 is the average value of the first-year data and
the last-year data of each period.

scale farming still exists. In Slovenia, the share farmland of over 5 ha is
35.6 percent, while in Japan it is only 2.4 percent. But the difference with
the large farm countries is significant. The average farm size in Japan in
2009 was 1.9 ha, in Australia 3023.7 ha, in the USa 198.1 ha, in the EU (av-
erage of 27 countries) 13.5 ha, in Germany 45.7 ha, in France 55.8 ha and in
the United Kingdom in 2007 58.8 ha.1
At this point, it should be noted that a decisive change in agricultural
scale is also taking place in Germany. For example, the expansion of farm
size in Hesse, a German state, has accelerated since the 1980s. While in
1949 the average farmland was 5.8 ha, by 2010 it had increased to 43.0
ha. In 2012, the average for Germany was 55.8 ha and for Hesse 43.0 ha
(Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt 2012a). There was no change in the
average between 2010 and 2012. The average farmland size in Germany
is somewhat smaller compared to other European countries. However,
it must be considered that the extent of this farmland expansion is not

1 Norin-Suisan-Gyo no Genjyo ni tsuite [About the current state of agriculture,
forestry and fisheries] 2010.

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