Tipology of farms based on its economic and demographic viability; application to dairy and cattle farms in Galicia (Spain)

Abstract

In this article, data bases from the 1989 and 1999 Agricultural Censuses are employed in order to elaborate a typology of the bovine farms in Galicia, which is based on the farms economic and demographic viability. The analysis allows us to conclude that the sector is integrated by three large groups of farms, with very different characteristics and perspectives. The first group is made of farms with economic and demographic viability, representing only 1/5 of the total although concentrating most of the output, whereas the second contains 1/3 of the total number of farms which are operated by farmers aged 55 or above without successor, and in its majority of very small size. Finally, the third is the most numerous group (50% of the total) and formed by farms with a more uncertain future, because they have possibility of succession but are not economically viable. Thus, the obtained results are used in three ways: to offer an analysis of the present structure of the sector, to interpret its recent transformations, and to project the tendencies for the next decade (1999-2009).