‘The fruit and vegetable sector in the EU’

The EU fruit and fresh vegetable sector is polarised between a few Member States responsible for the largest proportions of production, trading and processing, and several others that account individually for almost negligible volumes.

According to the most recent (2013) farm structure survey, almost 920 000 holdings grew fresh vegetables, which was 12.4 % of all European farms with an arable area. Nearly half (49.4 %) of those holdings were in just three countries: Romania (22.1 %), Poland (15.4 %) and Spain (11.9 %). By contrast, 15 countries accounted for shares of less than 1 % each.

The average area in the EU devoted to fresh vegetables per holding was 1.7 ha. Two Member States devoted areas to growing fresh vegetables which were much higher than the average: the United Kingdom (17.4 ha) and the Netherlands (10.3 ha). In 13 Member States, the average area devoted to fresh vegetables was below the EU average. They include Romania and Bulgaria (both 0.3 ha) and Lithuania (0.1 ha).

Figure 1: Fresh vegetables area by EU Member States, 2015

This meant that, on the one hand, 14.0 % of the EU fresh vegetable area was on farms growing fresh crops on less than 1 ha. Such farms accounted for 79.5 % of all holdings cultivating vegetables. On the other hand, 20.5 % of holdings with at least 1 ha dedicated to fresh vegetables accounted for 86.0 % of the EU’s total area devoted to growing vegetables.

Figure 2: Fruits area by EU Member States, 2015

7.2 % of all European fresh vegetables were grown on land given over to cultivation under glass or other high accessible cover. However, the figure was much higher in Spain (17.2 %) and Italy (13.3 %).

Click here to read the full report.