Not all farmers own the land they farm, with many choosing to rent. Across EU countries, annual rental prices of one hectare (ha) of agricultural land vary considerably between countries and regions.
Renting one hectare of arable land and/or permanent grassland ranged from a low of EUR 62 in Slovakia to EUR 836 on average in the Netherlands.
This information comes from data recently published by Eurostat.
Among the EU’s regions, renting one hectare of agricultural land was most expensive in 2021 in the Dutch region of Flevoland (EUR 1 721 per ha), followed by Canarias in Spain (EUR 1 119 per ha) and Attiki in Greece (EUR 927 per ha). With data from 2020, Venezia Giulia in Italy (EUR 1 714 per ha) would be amongst the regions with the highest rental prices.
In contrast, rental prices were lowest in Mellersta Norrland and Övre Norrland (both EUR 25 per ha) in Sweden, followed by Východné Slovensko (EUR 42) in Slovakia. Permanent grasslands is the main agricultural land use in those regions.
Among EU countries that reported specific rental prices for arable land and for permanent grassland, renting permanent grassland was always cheaper than renting arable land. The rent for one hectare of permanent grassland in 2021 ranged from a low of EUR 39 on average in Slovakia to EUR 337 on average in Ireland, compared to rental prices for arable land that varied between EUR 79 and EUR 466 in the same two countries.
For more information:
- Statistics Explained article on agricultural land prices and rents
- Thematic section on agricultural statistics
- Database on agriculture statistics – agricultural prices and price indices
Methodological notes:
- Agricultural land rents refer to the price of renting one hectare of agricultural land without buildings or plantations for one year. The renting price should be collected from the agricultural holdings renting the land for agricultural purposes (renting price paid).
- The reference period is the calendar year.
- The rental prices expressed in national currency are converted into euro by using the corresponding annual exchange rate, to allow comparisons among EU countries.
- Regions mentioned above are presented in their original names. For the English translation, please refer to the interinstitutional style guide, available here.