Agriculture is one of the most widespread activities in the world and has a crucial role in food production, environmental protection, landscape preservation, rural employment and food security. Agriculture is not uniform throughout, there are different elements.

From a gender point of view, there are significant gaps between women and men. For example, women farm holders have significantly smaller farms than men farm holders. Moreover, the share of female farm holders is particularly high on farms with no clear specialisation in livestock rearing or crop production. Indeed, 71 % of EU farms with livestock are run by male farm holders, and only 27 % by female farm holders (the remainder belongs to legal persons). Organic farming is practised by around 2 % of all EU farm holders, regardless of gender. In 2013, women represented 24 % of EU farm holders in organic farming, and they occupied 13 % of the EU area devoted to organic farming.