KAZALCI OKOLJA

Key message
Neutral

In Slovenia, the level of intensification in agriculture is moderate, focusing mostly on improving labour intensity in agricultural production, i.e. reducing the input of labour per unit of area or product. The number of livestock units (LU) per ha of utilised agricultural area as the most aggregate indicator of production intensity is stable; in the 2000-2013 period, the stocking density, as in other EU countries, slightly decreased. Due to economic pressures (market-price relationships), agricultural holdings are forced to reduce costs and increase productivity and farming intensity. Intensity of agricultural production in Slovenia in the period 2000–2013 increased moderately. The increase was a result of the continued reduction in the number of agricultural holdings and concentration of agricultural production.


Intensification of agriculture is a process that decreases production costs per unit of agricultural product. Production costs are the function of the cost of labour, land and capital. Capital-intensive agriculture develops where availability of labour and, most of all, land, is limited (Belgium, the Netherlands). Countries with limited capital and land have developed labour-intensive agriculture (India, China), while countries with limited capital and labour have developed agriculture that requires extensive land (Argentina). Each of these three forms of intensification has different impacts on the environment, nature and social structure of rural areas.

  • The indicator used to define intensification of agriculture is composed of:
    the share and trend of agricultural holdings engaged in livestock breeding or wheat and maize production,
  • stocking density or number of livestock units (LU) per hectare of utilised agricultural area (UAA),
  • milk or wheat and grain maize production trends per hectare.

Charts

Figure KM04-1: Intensity of stocking and production: the average yield of wheat and maize per hectare, milk yield and number of livestock units per hectare of utilised agricultural area
Sources:

Statistical Office of the RS, 2016.

Show data
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
wheat t/ha 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 4 5 4
maize t/ha 6 5 8 5 8 8 7 8 7 8
livestock livestock units/ha UAA 1 1 1 1
milk yield t/cow 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
wheat t/ha 5 5 6 4 5 5
maize t/ha 9 9 7 5 9 9
livestock livestock units/ha UAA 1 1 1 1
milk yield t/cow 6 6 6
Figure KM04-2: Agricultural holdings in Slovenia by number of livestock
Sources:

Statistical Office of the RS, 2013.

Show data
sheep pigs cattle goats horses total
2000 nr. of living stock per holding 22.2 13.5 8.9 6.2 3.1 6.1
2003 nr. of living stock per holding 22.7 15.4 10.2 7.2 3.6 6.6
2005 nr. of living stock per holding 22.8 14.9 10.6 7.5 3.8 6.3
2007 nr. of living stock per holding 22.9 17.2 11.6 8.4 3.9 6.8
2010 nr. of living stock per holding 22.3 14.4 13.1 8.3 3.8 7.2
2013 nr. of living stock per holding 20.9 12.1 13.6 8.6 3.6 6.9
2016 nr. of living stock per holding 21.9 12.1 14.8 8.4 3.4 7.5
2000 nr. of holdings 4330 44623 56097 4775 4634 77452
2003 nr. of holdings 5281 39484 46736 3974 4728 68909
2005 nr. of holdings 5747 33945 43675 4108 5128 66909
2007 nr. of holdings 5923 31690 40842 4133 5081 63549
2010 nr. of holdings 6181 26441 36119 4214 5948 58648
2013 nr. of holdings 6243 23700 34087 4022 6020 57749
2016 nr. of holdings 6143 22634 32794 4615 5838 55814
2000 nr. Of livestock breeding 96027 601953 499546 29385 14407 470498
2003 nr. Of livestock breeding 119631 607881 478331 28690 16879 456167
2005 nr. Of livestock breeding 131126 505161 461224 30826 19249 421587
2007 nr. Of livestock breeding 135887 544405 472363 34593 19623 433382
2010 nr. Of livestock breeding 137737 382031 472333 34864 22673 421553
2013 nr. Of livestock breeding 130657 287498 462066 34542 21832 399349
2016 nr. Of livestock breeding 134799 273170 486004 38769 19566 418512
Figure KM04-3: Agricultural holdings in Slovenia by production of wheat and maize
Sources:

Statistical office, 2013

Show data
2000 2003 2005 2007 2010 2013
Wheat ha per holding 1.24 1.4 1.36 1.52 1.71 1.78
Maize ha per holding 1.07 1.22 1.24 1.42 1.47 1.72
Wheat number of holdings 30857 25380 21980 20917 18524 18267
Wheat ha 38190 35517 29845 31861 31714 32561
Maize number of holdings 44826 36141 34212 28844 24795 24670
Maize ha 48009 44137 42369 40905 36433 42375
Figure KM04-4: Number of livestock units (LU) per hectare of utilised agricultural area (UAA) in Slovenia and selected countries
Sources:

Statistical Office of the RS, 2013; Eurostat, 2016.

Show data
Belgium Slovenia Austria Greece
2000 LU per ha UUA 3.13 0.97 0.79 0.71
2003 LU per ha UUA 2.84 0.94 0.77 0.66
2005 LU per ha UUA 2.8 0.87 0.75 0.62
2007 LU per ha UUA 2.76 0.89 0.78 0.61
2010 LU per ha UUA 2.8 0.89 0.87 0.46
2013 LU per ha UUA 2.74 0.84 0.89 0.44
2000 nr. of LU 4359330 470498 2673930 2540110
2003 nr. of LU 3956250 456167 2508220 2628970
2005 nr. of LU 3884560 421587 2453730 2479650
2007 nr. of LU 3787770 433382 2473240 2626560
2010 nr. of LU 3798680 421553 2517170 2406520
2013 nr. of LU 3584440 399349 2439090 2142980
2000 ha UUA 1393780 485879 3388230 3583190
2003 ha UUA 1394400 486473 3257220 3967770
2005 ha UUA 1385580 485432 3266240 3983790
2007 ha UUA 1374430 488774 3189110 4076230
2010 ha UUA 1358020 474432 2878170 5177510
2013 ha UUA 1307900 477023 2726890 4856780
Figure KM04-5: Average milk yield of cows in Slovenia and selected countries
Sources:

Statistical Office of the RS, 2013; Eurostat, 2016.

Show data
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
dairy cows - Slovenia number 140236 135805 139980 130711 134009 120273 112510 116391 113400 113103
milk production - Slovenia t 453896 472765 487683 498705 503348 508341 511017 530374 524311 516792
average milk production - Slovenia kg/cow 3237 3481 3484 3815 3756 4227 4542 4557 4624 4569
dairy cows - Austria number 621000 597980 588970 557880 537950 534420 527420 524500 530230 532980
milk production - Austria t 2655000 2651000 2650000 2645000 2618000 2619000 2672000 2661000 2705000 2708840
average milk production - Austria kg/cow 4275 4433 4499 4741 4867 4901 5066 5073 5102 5082
dairy cows - Belgium number 629400 611320 591010 572140 570610 548150 531910 524290 517770 517680
milk production - Belgium t 3124480 3088140 2894650 2828830 2845260 2867810 2836930 2878610 2849220 2954340
average milk production - Belgium kg/cow 4964 5052 4898 4944 4986 5232 5333 5490 5503 5707
dairy cows - Greece number 180000 172000 152000 149000 150000 152260 167750 150000 154000 145000
milk production - Greece t 555720 610990 562430 649390 646930 695900 731390 703040 690220 683770
average milk production - Greece kg/cow 3087 3552 3700 4358 4313 4570 4360 4687 4482 4716
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
dairy cows - Slovenia number 109467 109068 111022 109571 107841 112838
milk production - Slovenia t 519500 525592 535057 516971 531694 553678
average milk production - Slovenia kg/cow 4746 4819 4819 4718 4930 4907
dairy cows - Austria number 532740 527390 523370 529560 537740 534100
milk production - Austria t 2780980 2904420 2964130 2933250 3067380 3102560
average milk production - Austria kg/cow 5220 5507 5664 5539 5704 5809
dairy cows - Belgium number 517740 510650 503540 515990 519090 528780
milk production - Belgium t 3066640 3446370 3412020 3474760 3689440 3988110
average milk production - Belgium kg/cow 5923 6749 6776 6734 7108 7542
dairy cows - Greece number 144000 130000 132000 130000 135000 111000
milk production - Greece t 687730 638090 663730 652000 619000 612400
average milk production - Greece kg/cow 4776 4908 5028 5015 4585 5517
Figure KM04-6: Average production of wheat in Slovenia, EU-28 and selected countries
Sources:

Statistical Office of the RS, 2013; Eurostat, 2016.

Show data
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
wheat area - Slovenia ha 38190 39335 35729 35585 32385 30059 32083 32040 35413 34534
wheat harvest - Slovenia t 162559 181083 174868 122920 146829 141293 134449 133339 160297 136904
average wheat harvest - Slovenia t/ha 4.26 4.6 4.89 3.45 4.53 4.7 4.19 4.16 4.53 3.96
wheat area - EU28 000 ha 26862.36 26656.47 27235.15 24889.02 26811.43 26621.82 25034.53 24986.92 26670.19 25808.98
wheat harvest - EU28 000 t 133407.34 126870.08 134207.21 111947.4 149868.54 135769.14 127371.52 120803.8 151454.55 139299.42
average wheat harvest - EU28 t/ha 4.97 4.76 4.93 4.5 5.59 5.1 5.09 4.83 5.68 5.4
wheat area - Austria ha 293806 287777 288764 272001 290200 289000 284600 293000 296800 309100
wheat harvest - Austria t 1312962 1508283 1434208 1191380 1191380 1718800 1396300 1399300 1689700 1523400
average wheat harvest - Austria t/ha 4.47 5.24 4.97 4.38 4.11 5.95 4.91 4.78 5.69 4.93
wheat area - Belgium ha 213141 181042 202420 199319 213000 213800 210400 210000 224000 211500
wheat harvest - Belgium t 1687618 1457396 1675000 1692900 1913100 1799400 1719500 1645300 1944300 1978100
average wheat harvest - Belgium t/ha 7.92 8.05 8.27 8.49 8.98 8.42 8.17 7.83 8.68 9.35
wheat area - Greece ha 832800 931100 890300 851300 838800 845500 685170 623480 657370 698500
wheat harvest - Greece t 1858000 1830400 1783000 1631700 1773700 1761000 1574900 1383660 1939360 1829860
average wheat harvest - Greece t/ha 2.23 1.97 2 1.92 2.11 2.08 2.3 2.22 2.95 2.62
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
wheat area - Slovenia ha 31946 29665 34586 31758 33124 30734
wheat harvest - Slovenia t 153481 153575 188065 138235 173245 157058
average wheat harvest - Slovenia t/ha 4.8 5.18 5.44 4.35 5.23 5.11
wheat area - EU28 000 ha 26021.61 26212.45 25875.62 25780.42 26713.01 24817.37
wheat harvest - EU28 000 t 136926.45 139575.92 134362.15 144303.97 157342.41 153625.26
average wheat harvest - EU28 t/ha 5.26 5.32 5.19 5.6 5.89 6.19
wheat area - Austria ha 302850 304330 308180 297290 304650 302970
wheat harvest - Austria t 1517800 1781840 1275500 1597710 1804020 1725740
average wheat harvest - Austria t/ha 5.01 5.85 4.14 5.37 5.92 5.7
wheat area - Belgium ha 213000 200710 217100 201860 210760 221780
wheat harvest - Belgium t 1912800 1687730 1834600 1843600 1918980 2076260
average wheat harvest - Belgium t/ha 8.98 8.41 8.45 9.13 9.11 9.36
wheat area - Greece ha 642550 543700 563200 545210 544370 446370
wheat harvest - Greece t 1661100 1701010 1567570 1686410 1618770 1127200
average wheat harvest - Greece t/ha 2.59 3.13 2.78 3.09 2.97 2.53
Figure KM04-7: Average production of grain maize in Slovenia, EU-28 and selected countries
Sources:

Statistical Office of the RS, 2013; Eurostat, 2016

Show data
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Maize area - Slovenia ha 48009 47571 45525 44137 45996 42369 39839 40906 43698 38611
Maize harvest - Slovenia t 282393 257546 371365 224223 357621 351168 276106 308259 319902 302600
Average maize harvest - Slovenia t/ha 5.88 5.41 8.16 5.08 7.78 8.29 6.93 7.54 7.32 7.84
Maize area - EU28 000 ha 9691.32 9861.07 9655.82 10078.1 10399.4 9255.15 8788.13 8519.21 9117.22 8591.29
Maize harvest - EU28 000 t 52565.85 62799.94 61957.07 53572.55 73382.13 65006.55 57345.81 49987.44 65862.03 60028.9
Average maize harvest - EU28 t/ha 5.42 6.37 6.42 5.32 7.06 7.02 6.53 5.87 7.22 6.99
Maize area - Austria ha 164057 171420 172230 173306 178700 167200 159300 170900 194100 178500
Maize harvest - Austria t 1617535 1493010 1666605 1452054 1653700 1724800 1471700 1696500 2147200 1890500
Average maize harvest - Austria t/ha 9.86 8.71 9.68 8.38 9.25 10.32 9.24 9.93 11.06 10.59
Maize area - Belgium ha 35783 40555 47392 52723 52200 54300 56500 58200 72015 66700
Maize harvest - Belgium t 397375 460874 530700 554700 637800 634100 575900 698900 858800 808100
Average maize harvest - Belgium t/ha 11.11 11.36 11.2 10.52 12.22 11.68 10.19 12.01 11.93 12.12
Maize area - Greece ha 208200 210000 225300 249800 251400 241000 179130 190340 240100 240060
Maize harvest - Greece t 1850000 1900000 2002000 2205700 2210000 2169000 1646630 1927540 2472140 2351870
Average maize harvest - Greece t/ha 8.89 9.05 8.89 8.83 8.79 9 9.19 10.13 10.3 9.8
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Maize area - Slovenia ha 36433 40185 39166 41857 38331 37743
Maize harvest - Slovenia t 311120 349030 277360 226630 350730 338710
Average maize harvest - Slovenia t/ha 8.54 8.69 7.08 5.41 9.15 8.97
Maize area - EU28 000 ha 8235.68 9214.34 9779.34 9700.54 9547.54 9195.87
Maize harvest - EU28 000 t 59750.56 70665.81 59820.31 67036.86 77878.32 59314.83
Average maize harvest - EU28 t/ha 7.26 7.67 6.12 6.91 8.16 6.45
Maize area - Austria ha 201140 217100 219700 201920 216320 188730
Maize harvest - Austria t 1955990 2453130 2351370 1639020 2334390 1637910
Average maize harvest - Austria t/ha 9.72 11.3 10.7 8.12 10.79 8.68
Maize area - Belgium ha 69800 72030 67200 74170 62830 58400
Maize harvest - Belgium t 745900 859690 733600 837600 778570 692960
Average maize harvest - Belgium t/ha 10.69 11.94 10.92 11.29 12.39 11.87
Maize area - Greece ha 151550 181880 183950 183010 159920 151450
Maize harvest - Greece t 1718460 2165790 2009790 2134250 1768000 1611000
Average maize harvest - Greece t/ha 11.34 11.91 10.93 11.66 11.06 10.64
Figure KM04-8: Number of LU per ha of UAA by municipalities
Sources:

Agricultural census, 2010


Goals

Intensification of agriculture in uncontrolled conditions is a process that can put tremendous pressure on nature and the environment. As a result, there are several goals in this field that are sometimes opposed to each other:

  • Restructuring of agriculture, increased productivity and improved competitiveness of agriculture (Rural Development Programme 2014–2020),
  • eradication of hunger, food safety, improved nutrition and promotion of sustainable agriculture (Agenda 2030),
  • protection, preservation and enhancement of the Union's natural capital (7th Environmental Action Programme),
  • safeguarding the Union's citizens from environment-related pressures and risks to health and wellbeing (7th Environmental Action Programme).

The analysis of the structure of agricultural holdings shows that 80% of all agricultural holdings in Slovenia are engaged in various types of livestock breeding, 59% of which are engaged in cattle breeding. The number of farmers engaged in cattle breeding decreased by almost one fourth in the 2000–2013 period alone.

According to provisional data obtained by analysis of the structure of agricultural holdings, an average Slovenian agricultural holding engaged in livestock breeding in 2016 rears 7.5 head of cattle, which is almost one fourth more (23.4%) than at the beginning of the observed period. As in other EU countries, stock density is decreasing in Slovenia; it declined by 14% in the 2000–2013 period alone. At the municipal level, the number of livestock units per hectare of utilised agricultural area in 2010 shows a relatively atypical and dispersed spatial distribution of areas with different stock density.

Despite a rapid decrease in the number of holdings engaged in dairying, and a slightly less distinct decline in the number of dairy cows on these holdings, the total milk yield is still growing with regular annual fluctuation. The reason for this is a notable increase in the concentration of dairying: in the 2000- 2013 period, the average number of cows per holding rose by 114%, and at the same time, the intensity of dairying increased. In the period 2000–2015, average milk production per dairy cow (milk yield) increased by 1,670 kg or 52%. With almost 5,000 kilograms of milk per cow, Slovenia is comparable to the neighbouring Austria and some other EU Member States.

Wheat and grain maize are the most important crops in Slovenia. In 2013, 18,635 of agricultural holdings were engaged in growing wheat and 24,670 in growing maize. In the period 2000–2013, the number of wheat growing agricultural holdings was reduced by 41%, while the number of maize growing holdings dropped by 45%. As the total area of land under wheat production was reduced by 15% (land under maize production was reduced by 12%), the concentration of production per agricultural holding increased considerably. In Slovenia, the intensity of wheat production, measured in tonnes per hectare (based on long-term average), is almost 0.68 t below the EU average. Wheat yield in Slovenia has remained constant in recent years. Maize yield has remained relatively constant as well, with slightly more fluctuation annually, depending on weather conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Methodology

Date of data source summarization

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