Structural change in Dutch agriculture; impact on farm level statistics

Structural change has been a constant factor in agriculture, the Netherlands included. For decades the number of farms has decreased and the size of farms has increased. Agricultural statistics help to analyse and understand structural change, but at the same time structural change affects and to some extend complicates the compilation and use of agricultural statistics. Developments in the size of farms and the number of farms, although often used as indicators of structural change, have a limited impact on agricultural statistics. Other factors such as the increase in complexity of agricultural holdings have a potential large impact.