Final agricultural figures 2022
The agricultural area of spring cereals and grain maize has increased by 36.0% in 2022, due to the increase in cereal prices caused by the war in Ukraine. This is what emerged from the final agricultural results of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.
In 2022, there were 35,192 agricultural holdings in Belgium, which is a decrease of -2.3% compared to the previous year. The decrease was the most significant in Flanders: -3.3%. The decrease in the number of holdings was accompanied by a slight decrease of 0.5% in the utilised agricultural area.
41.3% of the Belgian agricultural area consists of temporary and permanent grassland. This share is larger in Wallonia (46.8%) than in Flanders (34.8%). Cereal crops occupied 23.7% of the agricultural area in 2022. This is an increase compared to 2021 which is due to the increase in the area of spring cereals (spring wheat and spring barley) and grain maize of +36.0% (or +19,251 ha), as a result of the cereal price increase caused by the war in Ukraine.
More environment-friendly crops and fallow land:
In the run-up to the new Common Agricultural Policy in January 2023, Europe has launched transitional schemes in 2022, known as eco-schemes. One of these incentives includes the sowing of environment, climate and biodiversity-friendly crops.
Three crop groups are eligible:
- annual protein crops namely legumes and mixed cropping of legumes and cereals;
- deep-rooting cut crops that promote soil quality. This group includes rapeseed, white mustard, fodder radish, hemp and marigolds;
- fauna-friendly crops.
These incentives explain the large shifts between the headings ‘other cereals’ (-85.2% or -4,330 ha), ‘other dry pulses’ (+89.6% or +4,432 ha) and ‘legume mixtures’ (-94.3% or 969 ha).
In Flanders, crops of white mustard, fodder radish, fauna-friendly crops and marigolds are causing an increase in fallow land. Wallonia has also revised its fallow land. As a result, fallow land increased by +16.5% (+13.5% in Flanders and +24.0% in Wallonia).
Wallonia further recorded a strong increase in other oilseeds, namely +84.1%. This is entirely due to the increase in areas of sunflower seeds and soybeans.
59.2% of temporary grassland is in Flanders, while Wallonia accounts for 65.5% of permanent grassland. Temporary grassland decreased by -4.5% in 2022. This is because part of the area was converted to grain maize, cereals, potatoes and permanent grassland.
Among horticultural crops, the area of outdoor vegetables decreased by -4.5% in 2022. The decline occurred for almost all vegetables.
More strawberries in greenhouses
For strawberries, there was a further shift from outdoor strawberries (-10.2%) to greenhouse strawberries (+9.5%). Cultivation under glass or high cover refers to all structures made of glass or plastic, soft or hard, heated or not, in which one can stand upright. The total area remained virtually stable compared to 2021 (-0.6%).
The area of orchards increased slightly by +1.8%. This was entirely due to the increase in orchards in Wallonia (+18.0%). In Flanders, there was a slight shift from apples (-1.5%) to pears (+0.2%).
Berries increased by 11.2% in 2022. This increase was due to the rise in vineyards (+20.7%). The increase was more significant in Wallonia than in Flanders (+25.8% and +15.0% respectively), reaching a total area of 673 ha.
Cattle and pig populations decline further and poultry stock remained stable
The Belgian cattle population has further decreased by -1.1% in October 2022 compared to October 2021 to 2.29 million animals. The decrease was more significant in Wallonia (-1.4%) than in Flanders (-0.8%).
The dairy herd increased by +1.2% in 2022 compared to October 2021 as a result of favourable milk prices. 64.7% of dairy cows in 2022 were in Flanders and 35.3% in Wallonia.
The situation is different for suckler cows. Due to high feed prices and falling meat prices, the number of cows decreased by -2.6%. 61.3% of suckler cows were in Wallonia and 38.6% in Flanders.
The pig population has decreased by -4.8% (-290,973 animals) in October 2022 compared to October 2021. The decline occurred in both fattening and breeding pigs.
The total number of fattening pigs over 50 kg was down by -5.4%. High feed prices are probably behind the decline of fattening pigs.
The number of breeding pigs fell by -5.6% between October 2021 and 2022. The decrease was the most significant among non-covered sows (-11.2%). The pig population will likely continue to decline.
Poultry increased very slightly by +0.3% compared to October 2021. 84.3% of the poultry population is located in Flanders in 2022. The number of laying hens for table eggs was down by -3.7% due to avian influenza, high feed costs and presumably also high energy prices. In contrast, the number of laying hens for hatching eggs and pullets increased by +3.7% and +6.1% respectively. Which indicates that the poultry population will increase.
Broiler chickens also did very well as a result of high meat prices in October, registering an increase of 0.2%.