A farmer either owns the land that is used for agricultural purposes and / or rents agricultural land and pays an amount annually to the landowner.
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These prices and rents vary considerably between EU countries and between regions for a wide range of reasons that include, among others, national factors (like laws), regional factors (e.g. climate and proximity to networks) and localised productivity factors (such as soil quality, slope or drainage).
The market forces of supply and demand, including the influence of foreign ownership rules, can also influence the price of agricultural land.
In 2022, the average price of 1 hectare of arable land in the EU was €10 578. This average price was 45 times more than the average annual rental price of €233 per hectare.
This information comes from data recently published by Eurostat.
Among the 21 EU countries for which 2022 are available, the price of 1 hectare of arable land varied from a low of €3 700 on average in Croatia to €233 230 on average in Malta.
Data for Malta reflect the limited availability of agricultural land and the pressure for alternative uses, resulting in prices higher than in other Member States.
There were three EU countries in which there were particularly strong regional variations in land prices for 1 hectare of arable land. In the Netherlands, prices ranged from €66 051 in Friesland to €150 644 in Flevoland, the national average being €85 431 per hectare.
In Greece, prices ranged from €6 290 in Dytiki Ellada to €84 820 in Attiki, the national average being €13 571 per hectare. In Spain, prices ranged from €4 906 in Extremadura to €83 299 in Canarias, the national average being €10 263 per hectare.
The cheapest regions in which to buy 1 hectare of arable land in 2022 were Övre Norrland (€2 041 on average) and Mellersta Norrland (€2 437) in Sweden.
The average price of 1 hectare of arable land in the EU was about € 2 200 more than the average price of 1 hectare of permanent grassland in 2022 (at €8 393).
Arable land was more expensive than permanent grassland in almost all countries and regions, the exceptions being Luxembourg and the Comunidad de Madrid.
Permanent grassland was cheapest in Bulgaria at €1 887 per hectare in 2022, almost four times less than the equivalent cost of 1 hectare of arable land (at €7 303).
The difference between the price of permanent grassland and arable land was widest in terms of ratio in the region of Voreio Aigaio in Greece (about a twenty-fold difference between €1 757 per hectare of permanent grassland and €36 435 per hectare of arable land).
In terms of absolute value, it was widest in Attiki (€84 820 per hectare of arable land and €25 000 per hectare of permanent grassland; €59 820 per hectare difference).
As with agricultural land prices, there were also considerable variations in land rents between countries and regions.
Within the EU, the average rental price of arable land and / or permanent grassland was € 199 per hectare, ranging from a low of €57 per hectare on average in Slovakia to €843 per hectare on average in the Netherlands.
Among the EU’s regions, renting 1 hectare of agricultural land was most expensive in 2022 in the Dutch region of Flevoland (€1 764 per ha), followed by Canarias in Spain (€1 136 per ha) and Attiki in Greece (€1 048 per ha).
Among EU countries that reported specific rental prices for arable land and for permanent grassland, renting permanent grassland was almost always cheaper than renting arable land.
The rent for 1 hectare of permanent grassland in 2022 ranged from a low of €32 on average in Slovakia to €354 on average in Ireland, the respective rental prices for arable land being €77 and €510 per hectare on average. ■