Fewer people are employed on farms. Most of the workers come from the family circle. More and more companies are relying on an additional source of income.
The number of workers working on farms in Germany has fallen in recent years. The decline is primarily due to a lower number of seasonal workers employed.
According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, around 876,000 workers were employed in agriculture nationwide in the period from March 2022 to February 2023. Compared to the last count in 2020, this means a decrease of seven percent or around 62,000 employees. At that time, the authority recorded around 938,000 employees in the companies.
Family workers largest Employee group
On average, each company employed 3.4 workers during the recording period. In 2020 there were an average of 3.6 employees. However, the number of agricultural businesses has also fallen by around three percent since 2020 to a total of around 255,000 across Germany.
Family workers continued to be the largest group among all employees. Between March 2022 and February 2023, it had around 398,000 employees, which made up around 45 percent of all employees nationwide.
This was followed by seasonal workers with 28 percent or around 243,000 employees. The number of employees permanently employed in the companies was around 235,000 during the recording period, making up 27 percent of all agricultural workers nationwide.
Differences between East and West
When comparing the western and eastern federal states, there were some clear differences in the type of employment. While in the western federal states family employees made up almost half of all workers at 49 percent, in the eastern federal states this group only made up around 20 percent.
Here, permanently employed employees made up the largest group in the employment structure at 56 percent. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this is also due to the fact that many agricultural businesses in the eastern federal states are organized as partnerships or legal entities.
The number of seasonal workers employed was not that different: this group made up around 28 percent of employees in the western states and around 23 percent in the eastern states.
Many companies rely on a second source of income
The figures from the Federal Statistical Office also show that more and more agricultural businesses are relying on a second source of income. While in 2020, around half of all operators (almost 50 percent) stated that they financed themselves through additional sources of income, their share rose to 54 percent between March 2022 and February 2023.
The leading figure was income from the generation of renewable energies. Of the companies affected, 47 percent received additional income from this. 27 percent used forestry as a second source of income and 26 percent used direct sales of their own products. Wood processing and accommodation were also mentioned as other sources of income.