Press Release: Farm Structure Survey (FSS). Modules. Year 2023.

Main results

The workforce on farms decreased by 4.0% in 2023 compared to the 2020 agricultural census.
Regular recruitment of women increased by 22.2% compared to the 2020 agricultural census. That of men grew by 2.3%.
The irrigable agricultural area was 3.5 million hectares and the irrigated agricultural area was 2.7 million hectares.
Conventional tillage was the most widely used tillage method, with 64.3%. In terms of winter ground cover, winter crops accounted for 64.8%.
15.4% of the farms had robotic machinery.

More information

Agricultural work on the farm

Workforce on farms decreased by 4.0% in 2023 compared to the 2020 agricultural census. That of the owner fell by 1.6% and work carried out by relatives of the owner by 10.4%.

The regularly employed workforce increased by 5.6% (2.3% for men and 22.2% for women). Temporary employment decreased by 34.5%, while subcontracting increased by 29.5%.

Farm workforce

(in Total Annual Work Unit)

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Irrigation on the farm

The irrigable area is the area that could be irrigated with the equipment and facilities available on the farm (irrespective of whether or not it has been irrigated in the reference period). Irrigated area is the area that has been irrigated at least once in the reference period or crop year.

A total of 358,000 farms had irrigable area in 2023, amounting to 3.5 million hectares. And 246,000 farms had irrigated area of 2.7 million hectares.

By irrigation methods, 49.0% of the area was irrigated by localised methods –including drip, micro-sprinkler, misting, hydroponic and others– 31.6% by sprinkler and 19.4% by gravity.

Irrigable area, irrigated area and methods of irrigation

In terms of the source of water used for irrigation, more than 144,000 farms used surface water and about 142,000 used groundwater.

Nearly 57,000 farms used water from public networks and more than 14,000 farms used treated wastewater.

Origin of water used for irrigation on farms

Irrigated outdoor crops

In 2023 there were 71,813 holdings with 433,000 hectares of irrigated olive groves. And 54,380 farms with 824,000 hectares of irrigated grain cereals.

Irrigated outdoor crops

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    "23,339",
    "169,379",
    "40,920",
    "163,940",
    "11,353",
    "125,585",
    "14,637",
    "110,716",
    "14,478",
    "90,956",
    "17,016",
    "69,081",
    "19,451",
    "57,093",
    "5,240",
    "34,277",
    "11,765",
    "30,443",
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In terms of the distribution of irrigated open-air agricultural area by crop, the crops with the highest percentages were Grain cereals (30.7%) and Olive groves (16.1%). And those with the lowest percentages were Berries (0.1%) and Other woody crops (0.5%).

Percentage of irrigated crop area in relation to irrigated outdoor UAA (without orchards)

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Soil management practices

Of the area on which tillage methods were applied in 2023, 64.3% was under conventional tillage. Minimum tillage accounted for 20.6% and Direct sowing for 15.1%.

In terms of winter ground cover on Arable land, Winter crops were used on 64.8% of the area, bare soil on 16.6%, Catch crops or cover crops on 10.3% and Plant residues or mulch on 8.3%.

Farm machinery

In 2023 the number of owned tractors was 540,000 and concentrated on 365,000 farms.

Farms using owned machinery

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In terms of farms with precision machinery and techniques, 120,000 farms were equipped with Robotic machinery, which accounted for 15.4% of the total. On 78,000 farms, soils were analysed by sampling.

Farms with precision techniques and machinery

Rural Development

52.1% of the aid granted in 2023 corresponded to Areas with natural limitations. These are payments to compensate farmers for all or part of the additional costs and income lost as a result of limitations on agricultural production in the area concerned.

A total of 39.6% of aid corresponded to Agro-environment and climate and 20.8% to Organic farming. The Agro-environment and climate measure is aimed at both maintaining and promoting the changes needed in agricultural practices in order to contribute positively to the environment and climate.

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are final. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.

In accordance with the Commission's Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137, the INE has begun to work on incorporating the new National Classification of Economic Activities CNAE-2025 in all its statistical operations. In the case of this survey, the first publication of results with CNAE-2025 will take place in the next survey in reference to 2026.

Methodological note

The Farm Structure Survey 2023 is conducted in all European Union countries in accordance with Regulation 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on integrated statistics on farms. It provides the framework for the analysis of the main structural characteristics of farms and the integration of this information with information on agricultural production and aspects related to the development of the agri-environment, and the European Commission’s Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2286.

Compared to previous surveys, and as was already done in the 2020 Agricultural Census, this is an innovative survey, as it is based on the extensive use of administrative records. This approach brings significant improvements over past surveys: such as reducing the response burden on reporting units and lowering the cost of the statistical operation.

The data refer to the agricultural year 2023, i. e. the season from 01 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, except for livestock breeding, for which the reference date is 30 September 2023.

The data from the 2020 Agrarian Census used for comparison with the survey does not include the extended framework, which is only contemplated in the case of the Autonomous Community of Galicia, used in the sample design of said census.

The Farm Structure Survey 2023 is structured in two sections: a main part detailing the main characteristics, and a complementary block covering modular variables on labour force, rural development, irrigation, soil management practices, orchards, machinery and waste generation.

In preparing the survey, the INE has benefited from the invaluable collaboration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), particularly the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA) and the Subdirectorate of Analysis, Coordination and Statistics. As well as the cooperation received from the Departments of Agriculture of the autonomous communities and the support of the company Tragsatec.

In País Vasco, the operation has been carried out in collaboration with the Euskal Estatistika-Erakundea/Basque Statistics Institute, in accordance with an agreement signed between the Basque Statistics Institute and the INE.

More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and Code of Best Practices.