Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 25 ISSUE 2
Written by Agatha POPESCU, Cristina TINDECHE, Alina MARCUTA, Liviu MARCUTA, Adelaida HONTUS, Valentin ŞERBAN

Land use in the EU for cereals, oilseeds and protein crops was studied in the period 2018-2025 based on Eurostat data aiming to identify the trends, similarities and differences among the member states as a reflection how cultivated areas are involved by structure and orientation to stimulate agricultural production. Growth rate, structural index, trend equations, R square, comparison and graphical illustration represent the methodological approach. The results pointed out that the utilized agricultural land (UAA) increased by 0.82% reaching 160.56 Mill. ha, of which six countries keep 68.2%: France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Italy and Romania in which UAA is over 10 Mill. ha. The EU arable land accounts for 99.01 Mill. ha, by 1.81% smaller and having a share of 60.5% in UAA. France, Spain, Germany and Poland account for 52.9% in arable land, having each more than 10 Mill. ha. In 2025, the EU arable land is destined for two groups of crops: cereals 50.2 Mill. ha (52.5%) and oilseeds and protein crops 13.1 Mill. ha (13.9), summing 66.5%. In case of cereals, the largest arable land is allotted to soft wheat (42.1%), barley (20.5%) and grain maize (17.4%) totaling 80%. In case of oilseeds and protein crops, the highest share in arable land is kept by rape (45.1%), sunflower (35.3%) and soybean (7.9%), summing 88.3%. Smaller land surfaces are covered by other crops from these two groups in order to sustain the diversity of domestic production, to cover market needs and stimulate export. All these reflect the role of these crops in the EU vision for developing a sustainable agriculture assuring food security, animal feeding, renewable energy, industry processing and environment protection.

[Read full article] [Citation]