Business development until 2032

As part of the Agrifuture Insights surveys, participants are also regularly asked about future company development. Despite small, partly unrepresentative samples, these results already show or confirm tendencies.

For example, one fifth of the farms surveyed in the field of arable farming, dairy farming and pig farming in Germany expect their structure to have grown by 2032, irrespective of their main production sector. More than 20% even stated that they would set up new branches of farming, with pig farmers leading the way with 24%. This is probably due to increasingly difficult political and economic conditions, which are fuelling the search for alternatives.

Among arable farmers, the largest vote was for a structure and size similar to the current one, at 26 %; the same applies to dairy farmers, at 34 %. In dairy farming, a hard structural change has already taken place, which also explains why only a relatively small 4% of respondents expect to give up farming. In pig farming, on the other hand, structural change is in full swing.

In Germany, therefore, only the most competitive and adaptable farms will remain, the number of farms is decreasing while the number of animals per farm is increasing. This is reflected in 10% for possible farm closure as well as in 20% of farms with prospects for a grown farm structure.

The share of similar farm developments as today is also comparatively low at 22 %. 6 % of the surveyed arable farmers, 4 % of the surveyed pig farmers and only 2 % of the dairy farmers are planning to convert to organic farming.