Agriculture
08. Apr 2022
Farms have seen a rapid centralization in the past ten years
The agriculture industry has not seen much of a growth in production during the past ten years. In 2012, the Faroe Islands produced 6.8 million litres of milk from 1,138 cows. In comparison, 7.5 million litres were produced from 1,147 cows in 2021. In the same period, beef production has increased from 46 tonnes of beef from 153 cattle, to 64 tonnes of beef from 203 cattle.
This survey only covers the registered commercial segment of Faroese agriculture, which includes milk and beef production.
The number of dairy cattle was almost exactly the same in 2021 as it was ten years previously – outnumbering 2012 by a mere nine cows. Nonetheless, the amount of milk yielded has increased from 6,000 litres per cow in 2012 to 6,600 litres in 2021.
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In this period, beef production has seen a bigger increase. In 2012, the production rate was 46 tonnes of beef from 153 slaughtered cattle. In 2021, 64 tonnes of beef was produced from 203 slaughtered cattle.
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The agriculture industry has seen significant geographical changes in the ten year period. The table below shows the gradual changes to the number of farms and dairy cattle, as well as the production volume.
The number of farms that include dairy cattle has decreased from 28 down to 16. Out of the 16 farms today, seven are located in Streymoyar district, four in Eysturoyar district, another four in Sandoyar district and one in Norðoya district.
Vága district and Suðuroyar district no longer have farms that include dairy cattle.
Thus, farms that include dairy cattle have become significantly more sizeable. This is especially clear when we calculate the volume of weighed milk produced per farm, which results in a 93% increase in volume of weighed milk for the whole country. The increase per farm is especially accounted for by Norðoya district and Streymoyar district.
