Income forecast agri- and horticulture

Average farm income is expressed in unpaid annual work units (AWU). In most sectors, farmers and their family members perform the bulk of the labour themselves and usually do not receive a salary. A worker who works 2,000 hours or more in a year counts as one AWU. Anyone working fewer hours counts as less than one AWU. In this situation, Wageningen Social & Economic Research divides farm income by the number of unpaid AWU. This makes it easier to compare the incomes of different farm types, because the average number of unpaid AWU per farm type varies considerably.

The data for the Income Forecast are drawn from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (BIN) of Wageningen Social & Economic Research. Around 1,500 farmers participate in this network. In addition, the income estimates use up-to-date data from various sources on prices, production volumes and cost developments.

Wageningen Social & Economic Research and Statistics Netherlands also provide the estimate of the agricultural sector income. This is a legal obligation to the European Commission (CBS/WSER for Eurostat). 

You can consult the latest figures at any time on our Agro & Food Portal (Agrimatie):

• Agrimatie: Annual Prices
• Agrimatie: Farm Income by Farm Type
• Agrimatie: Sector Forecast 

The figures are presented in December each year at meetings with sector specialists, journalists and representatives of the ministry. If you would like to be notified of the date of the next presentation, please contact Harold van der Meulen (see below).