Slight decline in arable crop area

According to this year’s agricultural census, the Netherlands has over 530 thousand hectares of land devoted to arable farming. This is 1.6 thousand hectares (0.3 percent) less than one year previously. The surface area in use for arable crops has been in decline since 2000. More than 100 thousand hectares of arable land (16 percent) have disappeared since then. There has been no further decline since 2016.

Less land for ware potatoes

This year, the total cultivation area for ware potatoes has declined by nearly 1.8 thousand hectares to 77 thousand hectares (-2.3 percent). Areas in use for seed and starch potatoes have increased slightly over the past twelve months; both by approximately 1 percent. The share of seed potatoes in the total potato area has continued to rise slightly again over the past year. As of 2020, over one-quarter of the total potato area (over 44 thousand ha) is in use for seed potatoes; the area in use for starch potatoes is nearly equal in size (27 percent). The bulk of the potato area consists of ware potatoes (46.2 percent).

Since 2000, the seed potato area has grown by 2.4 thousand ha (5.7 percent) while the ware potato area declined by 10 thousand ha (-12 percent) and the starch potato area by 5.6 thousand ha (-11 percent).

Slight decline in seed onion area

Seed onion cultivation occupies over 27 thousand ha this year. This is 180 ha less than one year previously, representing a decline of around 0.7 percent. In 2019, the seed onion area still grew by almost 10 percent. The long-term trend in seed onion cultivation is still one of growth. Relative to 2000, the total seed onion area has doubled.

Wheat in decline again

The area in use for common wheat has been reduced again as of 2020, following an increase in 2019. At the last census, the wheat production area occupied over 110 thousand ha, which is approximately 10 thousand ha or 8.7 percent less than twelve months previously. The area still increased in size by 8.9 percent n 2019 to reach a total of 121 thousand hectares.

This year, the winter wheat area declined by almost 19 thousand ha (-16.5 percent) on the previous year. The area devoted to summer wheat doubled instead. This year, the summer wheat area occupies approximately 17 thousand hectares of land. This area tends to fluctuate from year to year. Around 15 percent of the total wheat area currently consists of summer wheat. The largest share of summer wheat was seen in 2011. Around one-quarter of the total wheat area consisted of summer wheat.