According to INE, the Azores lost 15% of their agricultural area between 2019 and 2023. Yesterday, the company released the results of the Survey on the Structure of Agricultural Holdings 2023.
This is one of the biggest reductions in holdings among the country’s regions.
The number of farms decreased in all regions, most evident in Greater Lisbon, where around 1/4 of farms have gone out of business since 2019, and the least significant in Alentejo (-4.7%).
Greater Lisbon and the Setúbal Peninsula recorded the biggest decreases in UAA (Utilized Agricultural Area) compared to 2019.
The average size of farms varies greatly from region to region. In the Alentejo, there are 71.2 hectares per farm, around five times the national average, while in the North and Center, there are 6.2 hectares and 7.3 hectares per farm, respectively.
In the Azores, the average farm size is 13 hectares.
The decrease in the number of holdings since 2019 has occurred mainly among small producers, with a decline of 22.8% in the smallest holdings, with less than 1 hectare of UAA, and 8.5% in those with 1 hectare to less than 10 hectares of UAA, while the number of holdings with 10 or more hectares of UAA grew by 1.6%.
The increase in the average size of holdings was fundamentally the result of a reduction in the number of small holdings rather than significant changes in the land structure.

It should be noted that farms with 50 or more hectares of UAA, although they represent 5% of farms, manage 2/3 of UAA.
In 2023, 261.5 thousand farms were registered, 28.7 thousand fewer than in 2019 (-9.9%). The rate of abandonment of agricultural activity has increased in the last four years compared to the decade from 2009 to 2019.
Although a significant number of producers have ceased or abandoned farming since 2019, the decrease in Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) was less significant (-2.6%) to 3.861 million hectares (41.9% of the land area).
The INE study concludes that the average size of farms has increased by 1.1 hectares of UAA per farm since 2019 (8.1%), rising from 13.7 hectares to 14.8 hectares per farm.

In Diário dso Açores-Osvaldo Cabral, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.