Small farms have always been a cornerstone of agriculture in the EU. They play a significant role in supporting rural employment, contributing to territorial development. They are important for production, particularly in the form of local specialist products and provide important social, cultural and environmental services. 

The last enlargements in 2004 and 2007 brought small and semi-subsistence farms into the EU, tripling their number. They populate rural areas, often the most fragile and disadvantaged regions; their integration with markets is low and their competitiveness has been questioned. Small farms are low cash incomes and a high incidence of poverty. (ENRD – small farms). The number of small farms in the EU is steadily declining as labour moves out of the agricultural sector making land available for consolidation.

There were 12.2 million farms across the EU. (Agriculture, forestry and fishery statistics, Eurostat, 2013). There is a lot of variation and big contrasts in farm structures across the EU: a large number (6 million) of very small farms (less than 2 ha in size) that farmed 2.5 % of the total land area used for farming and a small number (2.7 % of all holdings) of large farms (over 100 ha) that farmed 50.2 % of the farmland. This is also reflected in the economic size of holdings: there were 5.5 million holdings (44.6 %) which had a standard output below EUR 2 000. Many of farms, smaller than 2 ha, may be characterized as semi-subsistence farms, meaning that more than 50% of their output is self-consumed.