Differences of farm structural change across European regions

Challenges arising from the EU policy focus on rural development lead to an increased demand for farm structure analyses at a regional level. The study’s aim is to show (1) which way structural change differs across EU15 regions referring to size and production orientation and (2) how far certain regional characteristics contribute to those differences. A Markov chain analysis combining sample and aggregate data is used to identify regionally different development paths. Significant regional differences are observed regarding the farm number development in general and with respect to size and specialisation classes. A cross-sectional analysis shows that region-specific structural variables partially explain those differences.