Page 44 - Green Knowledge 2020

Strandebarm, Hardanger
Nine facts about Norwegian agriculture
We currently drink 89 litres of milk a year — half as much as 30 years ago. We eat 18 kilos of cheese and 67 kilos of meat. That is 5 kilos more cheese and almost 20 kilos more meat than in 1988. Organic agriculture decreases, while sale of organic food increases.
Photo: Kjersti Kildahl
These figures were published in NIBIO’s annual publication Norwegian Agriculture, Status and Trends.
Number of farms halved in 30 years: In 2018, there were 39,600 farms in Norway, compared to 99,400 in 1989. Production volume remained the same.
Bigger farms: In 1999, the average farm had 36,3 acres of agricultural land. In 2018 the average was 61,5 acres. Land area per farm grows steadily larger.
Rented land is important: Around 45% of agricultural land is rented. Bigger operators need more land, thus rented land increases.
Less milk production: The number of dairy cows went down from 391,100 in 1980, to 217,500 in 2018. Reduced milk consumption and higher productivity per cow explain the change.
Meat consumption doubled in 40 years: Total consumption of beef/veal, mutton/lamb, pork and
poultry nearly doubled from the early 1980s, to 370,000 tons in 2017. Poultry and pork stand for most of the increase.
Lamb/mutton = low profit: The number of winter-fed sheep increased by 9% from 2014 to 2017, after measures to stimulate more production. Resulting in overproduction and reduced profit.
Import dependency: Consumption of fruit and berries was 86 kilos per capita in 2018, of which 30 kilos were produced in Norway. Norwegian growing conditions limit production and cause imports.
Organic paradox: Organic agricultural land decreased by 17% from 2012 to 2018. Meanwhile, sales of organic produce increased by 8% from 2017 to 2018. 4.2% of Norwegian agricultural land was organic in 2018.
Forests — 1% owns 1/3: Around 39% of the land area in Norway is forest. One-third of the productive forest is owned by 1,200 of 127,000 owners in total. Ca. 90% of volume sold is felled and delimbed using machinery.
Goal: Funding:
Contact:
To provide an overview of Norwegian agriculture through statistics from various sources. Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Senior Adviser Heidi Knutsen. Email: heidi.knutsen@nibio.no, mobile: +47 907 64 531. Division of Survey and Statistics
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