In agriculture, energy use is expressed by direct use of gas oil and electric energy and by indirect use for the production of mineral fertilizers. The consumption of energy per hectare of utilised agricultural area is also presented and compared with other European countries.

In the period from 1992 to 2023 in Slovenia, the consumption of gas oil in agriculture was the highest in the year 1992. This year was taken as a starting year. Looking at the last observed year, fuel consumption in 2021 was 13.6% lower than in 1992. Gas oil consumption has not changed significantly in the last ten years and amounts to around 2,400 TJ/year.

Processes that reduce fuel consumption per hectare (e.g. direct sowing, conservation tillage) are spreading relatively slowly; they are used by larger farms. In addition, mechanical processes are increasingly used to protect against weeds or maintain row spacing under fruit or grapevine trunks, which requires a greater number of passes and thus greater fuel consumption. Processes that were previously manual are also being mechanized (e.g. grape harvester).

Electricity consumption fluctuates in the period 2013 to 2023, and electricity consumption in cold stores (warehouses) is affected by the amount of fruit produced. Indirect energy consumption in agriculture was determined by the energy required for the production of mineral fertilizers. The highest total indirect energy consumption in the period 1992 to 2023 was established for the starting year 1992 followed by a downward trend. Thus, the total indirect energy consumption for 2023 was down by 37.2% compared to 1992. However, if we look at the consumption of indirect energy per hectare of utilized agricultural area, in 2023 the consumption of indirect energy was lower by 28.8% compared to the starting year of 1992. Since we do not produce mineral fertilizers in Slovenia, this energy does not affect the national energy balance, but it does indirectly burden the environment with carbon dioxide.

The highest direct energy consumption in 2022 (among countries for which data is available) was in the Netherlands due to a large share of greenhouses, followed by Belgium.