3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
Luxembourg Agriculture Sector, gross value added (annual % growth)
Source: Service d’Economie rurale, Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s total agricultural labor force has declined by half since 1985, and now amounts
to roughly 3,500 “annual work units” (AWUs, or full-time equivalents). Farm automation may
account for a substantial percentage of the labor reduction, but no figures were available. This
included 42,000 working days by day laborers (or 154 AWUs) – which have increased 340%
since 1990. Luxembourg’s agricultural workforce is roughly two percent of the nation’s active
population, which is one of the smallest percentages among the EU member nations.
Agricultural holdings by families in the country have declined by half over the past 25 years -
from 3,770 in 1990 to 1,900 in 2015; while corporate and group holdings have increased more
than 400% – from 35 to 144. Luxembourg’s utilized agricultural land has remained roughly
constant since 1990 at 131,000 hectares, nearly split between permanent grasslands and arable
land. Half the farms are 50 hectares or more in size, covering 86% of Luxembourg’s agricultural
land in 2010; one-fifth of farms, comprising half of utilized agricultural area (UAA), are more
than 100 ha in size. 121
In Luxembourg, 60% of the land is rented by the farmers and only 40% is in property and the
proportion of leased land is continually increasing. 122 There is a very high pressure on farmland
prices because of the roaring development in the other sectors of the national economy.
121 STATEC Farm Survey, Luxembourg.
122 Figures for 2015; source STATEC
157