Farms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: what do we know today?

This paper takes stock of the number of farms worldwide, their distribution and that of farmland, based on agricultural censuses and survey data. It shows that there are more than 608 million farms in the world, with more than 90 percent being family farms which occupy around 70-80 percent of farmland and produce about 80 percent of the world’s food in value terms. Some of the data gathered suggest the importance of not referring to family farms and small interchangeably: the latter account for 84 percent of all farms worldwide, but operate only around 12 percent of all agricultural land, and produce roughly 36 percent of the world’s food. The paper also considers evidence on labour and age provided by the censuses. The publication concludes that there is a need to improve agricultural censuses if we want to deepen our understanding of farms, including indicators such as the ages of farm workers and agricultural holders, and information on seasonal or temporary hired labour. A better and more complete understanding will guide policy makers’ efforts towards achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals.