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Agricultural surface. By types Catalonia
Utilised agricultural area (UAA) Cultivated land Rainfed Irrigated land Permanent pasture Forest area Other land Total
2016 1,115,367 783,689 540,062 243,627 331,678 421,159 143,443 1,679,969
2013 1,125,268 767,633 540,578 227,054 357,635 384,229 136,917 1,646,413
2009 1,147,532 792,425 561,466 230,960 355,107 360,511 136,675 1,644,718
2007 1,166,542 790,301 566,321 223,980 376,241 596,530 187,375 1,950,447
2005 1,162,230 784,069 546,647 237,422 378,161 572,368 192,185 1,926,783
2003 1,148,501 797,835 566,765 231,070 350,666 554,528 213,496 1,916,525
1999 1,153,437 813,682 586,025 227,657 339,754 599,744 200,416 1,953,597
1997 1,140,480 877,297 628,889 248,408 263,183 569,838 158,885 1,869,203
1995 1,102,043 859,823 627,874 231,949 242,220 608,674 160,184 1,870,901
Units: Hectares.
Source: Idescat, based on data from the Survey on Farm Structure of INE.
Note: The 1999 data has been adapted to the population researched in the Agricultural Census 2009 in order to assist with comparability.

Last update: February 28, 2018.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Permanent pasture
Land that is permanently used (five years or more) for producing grass.
Agricultural surface
Constitutes the land used for agricultural, forestry or other purposes.
Agricultural surface, other land
This item includes wasteland, scrubland, land with esparto, untilled cultivable land and other land that is not directly used for plant production, but is needed by the operation (land occupied by constructions, stables, threshing floors, etc.). Also includes surfaces that are inapt for agricultural production, but that can be cultivated using means that are not normally used for operations (quarries, etc.).
Used agricultural area (UAA)
Includes surfaces of cultivated land and permanent pasture.
Forest surface
Area covered by trees or shrubs and not for agricultural purposes. Includes: woods (land populated by trees), and scrubland (maquis scrubland, garrigues, brolles, thickets and areas of transition between woods and scrubland), other vegetation (meadows, pastures, grasslands, wetland vegetation, wasteland and burned areas), plantations and other areas associated to operations, such as forest paths and fire-breaks.
Irrigated land
As well as rainwater, this land also receives water by means of a man-made system, whether temporary or continuous.
Rainfed land
Land that receives no water other than rainwater.
Cultivated land
Land that is worked (whether using hoes, ploughs, rakes, harvesters, spreaders or extirpators) over the agricultural year for whatever purpose and the date when it was done. Crops from tilled land can be herbaceous or woody.

Methodological aspects

Agricultural statistics are generated within the framework of the EU programme on surveys on farm structure conducted by all EU members in order have up-to-date, comparable information on the member states, with the purpose of being used a basic tool for designing the Common Agricultural Policy. This programme establishes that an Agricultural Census shall be performed every ten years and sample-based surveys in the intervening years. For the cycle that starts with the Agricultural census 2009, two triennial surveys are established.

In these censuses, which are exhaustive, all the existing farms are researched, which from 2009, must comply with certain minimum criteria, while in the Surveys on Farm Structure the population studied complies with some less broad minimum criteria and the data is selected by sampling.

The introduction of these methodological changes with respect to previous editions means that the data is not directly comparable.

What is more, the census questionnaire also includes an additional sheet through which information of interest to the Catalan agricultural sector can be gathered.

Between 1989 and 2007, these statistical operations were conducted by Idescat with the support of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing, Food and the Environment.

In 2009, the INE became the responsible body for the Agricultural census for Spain as a whole and in Catalonia it works in collaboration with Idescat and the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing, Food and the Environment, in accordance with the corresponding collaboration agreements.

The Survey on Farm Structure shows the biennial data series for intercensal periods up to 2007. The series will be triennial from 2013 onwards. From 2013 onwards, the thematic sections will include a section on Rural Development and another on Standard Production, which substitutes the processing of economic data on operations which was based on the gross margin until 2007.

Furthermore, in conjunction with DARP, Idescat has generated a variety of informative documents setting out the main results of the Agricultural Census and the Survey on Farm Structure, prior to 2009. The document devoted to the Agricultural Census contains a compilation of the main variables and compares them with the corresponding previous censuses, pointing out and commenting on the basic factors in their evolution in the intervening period.

The documents devoted to Survey on Farm Structure provide data on the main variables in this survey and compare them with the universe of reference of the corresponding Agricultural Census.

When the value is lower than that of the minimum unit to be able to estimate the statistical operation or if it effects statistical confidentiality, the symbol used is "..".