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Book (series)Working paperFarms, family farms, farmland distribution and farm labour: What do we know today? 2019
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No results found.A better and more complete understanding of family farms is urgently needed to guide policy makers’ efforts towards achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper takes stock of the number of farms worldwide, and their distribution and that of farmland, on the basis of agricultural censuses and survey data. Thus, it shows that there are more than 608 million farms in the world. Rough estimates also indicate that more than 90 percent of these farms are family farms (by our definition) occupying around 70–80 percent of farmland and producing about 80 percent of the world’s food in value terms. We underscore the importance of not referring to family farms and small farms (i.e., those of less than 2 hectares) interchangeably: the latter account for 84 percent of all farms worldwide, but operate only around 12 percent of all agricultural land, and produce roughly 36 percent of the world’s food. The largest 1 percent of farms in the world operate more than 70 percent of the world’s farmland. The stark differences between family farms, in terms of size, their share in farmland distribution, and their patterns across income groups and regions, make clear the importance of properly defining different types of farms and distinguishing their differences when engaging in policy discourse and decision making towards the SDGs. The paper also considers evidence on labour and age provided by the censuses. There is a need to improve agricultural censuses if we want to deepen our understanding of farms. -
DocumentWorking paperWhat do we really know about the number and distribution of farms and family farms worldwide?
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2014
2014Also available in:
No results found.The agricultural economics literature provides various estimates of the number of farms and small farms in the world. This paper is an effort to provide a more complete and up to date as well as carefully documented estimate of the total number of farms in the world, as well as by region and level of income. It uses data from numerous rounds of the World Census of Agriculture, the only dataset available which allows the user to gain a complete picture of the total number of farms globally and at the country level. The paper provides estimates of the number of family farms, the number of farms by size as well as the distibution of farmland by farm size. These estimates find that: there are at least 570 million farms worldwide, of which more than 500 million can be considered family farms. Most of the world’s farms are very small, with more than 475 million farms being less than 2 hectares in size. Although the vast majority of the world’s farms are smaller than 2 hectares, they operat e only a small share of the world’s farmland. Farmland distribution would seem quite unequal at the global level, but it is less so in low- and lower-middle-income countries as well as in some regional groups. These estimates have serious limitations and the collection of more up-to-date agricultural census data, including data on farmland distribution is essential to our having a more representative picture of the number of farms, the number of family farms and farm size as well as farmland dis tribution worldwide. -
Book (series)Technical studyRevealing complementarities across farm scales in global food production
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2025
2025Also available in:
No results found.Understanding how much food is produced by farms of different sizes is central to shaping inclusive, sustainable and resilient agrifood systems. While smallholders are widely recognized as critical for local food security, especially in low- and middle-income countries, global estimates of their contribution to global food production remain uncertain due to data limitations and methodological challenges. This study builds on earlier work by compiling the most comprehensive dataset to date – covering 77 countries from all major world regions, except Oceania, and 120 food crops – to directly measure crop production by standardized farm size categories. Using harmonized household surveys, agricultural surveys and agricultural censuses conducted between 2007 and 2023, the study estimates the contribution of each farm size category to the global production of kilocalories, protein and fats. The results show that smallholders operating on less than 2 hectares produce between 9 percent and 16 percent of global kilocalories, while very large farms (over 1 000 hectares) produce around 17 percent. In low- and lower-middle-income countries, smallholders account for a much larger share of national food production: around 60 percent. In high-income countries, by contrast, very large farms dominate, particularly for calorie- and fat-dense crops. Regional patterns further underscore the pivotal role of small farms in sub-Saharan Africa and most of Asia, and of medium- to large-scale farms in Latin America and Europe. In terms of crop diversity, smaller farms are especially important for producing diverse, high-value crops, with farms of up to 5 hectares producing over one-third of all vegetables, nuts and seeds, and spices and aromatics. These findings highlight the complementary roles of all farm sizes in meeting global food and nutrition requirements, and underscore the need for more regular and consistent data collection on land use and crop production at both household and enterprise levels.
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BookletCorporate general interestFAOSTYLE: English 2024The objective of having a house style is to ensure clarity and consistency across all FAO publications. Now available in HTML, this updated edition of FAOSTYLE: English covers matters such as punctuation, units, spelling and references. All FAO staff, consultants and contractors involved in writing, reviewing, editing, translating or proofreading FAO texts and information products in English should use FAOSTYLE, together with the practical guidance on processes and layout questions provided in Publishing at FAO – strategy and guidance.
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