The Agricultural Land Market in the EU and the Case for Better Data Provision

Participants in agricultural land markets require comprehensive statistics in order to make informed decisions in relation to agricultural land and the associated production. The publication of such data supports land mobility, the competitiveness and generational renewal of the sector. This article describes the functioning of agricultural land markets in EU Member States and the associated data infrastructure. We identify a scarcity of information regarding the volume of land sales transactions but significant recent improvements in the reporting of comparable statistics on agricultural land sales prices. Wide disparities between Member States both in terms of their agricultural land sales and agricultural land rental markets are documented. There remain significant data gaps in terms of land rental prices in EU Member States. Further EU-wide research should be carried out in relation to land rental price indices with adjustments for the underlying land characteristics. The resulting price indices should provide a better indication of the competitiveness of land markets in EU regions. Finally, the analysis identifies recent improvements in measuring the extent of land fragmentation in the EU but finds that this analysis is confined to a minority of Member States.