Statistics on agricultural employment are collected each year in the June Agricultural & Horticultural Census and are published in the annual Statistical Review of Northern Ireland Agriculture (DAERA). However, EU legislation requires the collection of more detailed information, on a comparable basis throughout the European Union, every two or three years.
This exercise is known as the EU Farm Structure Survey.
The survey provides information, not elsewhere available, on the age structure of farmers, the time they spend on farm work and whether or not they do any other paid work.
This report presents the Northern Ireland data collected for that purpose in 2016. It contains comparisons with the results of other surveys since 1995 as well as some additional information not required by the EU, such as the use of agricultural contractors, which is of interest to policy makers in Northern Ireland.
European Farm Structure Survey 2016