Economic performance of agricultural holdings in 2012

In 2012, the Italian agricultural farms belonging to the EU universe (around 1.6 million) had 969 thousand working units (Ula), of which 190 thousand dependent workers (19.6 percent), with production amounting to 42.6 billion euro and value added around 23.8 billion euro (basic prices evaluations).

The 11.4 percent of farms produces for self-consumption only, while the weight of multi-functional units is relevant, as regards number (11 percent), Ula (19.7 percent), production and value added (27.9 percent).

On average, in 2012 the agricultural farms realized about 26,300 euro of product (of which the 94.8 percent has been commercialized), with a gross operating surplus (Rlg) of about 14,100 euro by farm.

In comparison with 2011, production increased by 2.4 percent and value added by 2.0 percent.

The analysis of the dependent employment labor cost puts in evidence the lower average daily wage of temporary workers in comparison with permanent workers. As a matter of fact, the share of working days referred to temporary workers is equal to 80.0 percent, while that referred to the correspondent labor cost is 72.3 percent.

Breakdown of agricultural farms by Ula classes underlines the strong concentration in the smallest class. Small farms, with less than one Ula, are the 83.0 percent of the total, but realize a small share of production (29.3 percent), of turnover (28.9 percent) and of valued added (28.3 percent). Moreover, they contribute for 15.5 percent only to dependent employment and for 9.5 percent to labor costs. We must also underline that even among farms with less than one Ula there are units which have turnover not lower than 15,000 euro. They represent the 48.2 percent of farms with turnover not lower than 15,000 euro.