Models of farms in the European Union

Abstract

Abstract: The article describes and sets a definition of different farm models under the categories of being family, small, and large scale commercial. Determination was based on the structure of the workforce and relationships between agricultural income to minimum wages. Family farms were dominated by the farming family providing the labour and the income per capita exceeded the net minimum wage in the country. The larger commercial farms are characterized by having a predominance of hired labour. Other farms where the full time income of those engaged in farm work was lower than the minimum wage were classified as small farms.The survey finds that the dominant form of farm management in the European Union is family farming, which in most EU States involves the largest share of resources. However, there is a group of countries in which large scale commercial production dominates producing a large share of total agricultural production and involving significant land and labour resources. Small farms, despite the fact that the prevail in a large number of countries, have little economic importance, due to their low level of land resources, and importantly a minor role the production of domestic agricultural production.