cultivar_22_Final_EN

74 ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES CULTIVAR Issue 22 APRIL 2021 of the agricultural sector, reinforcing the three major trend lines already identified in the past, associated with different types of agriculture. On the one hand, a process of extensification associated with increas- ing pasture area in large farms, on the other hand, a process of abandonment associated with smaller farms, which appears increasingly attenuated, and also a process of marked sector restructuring lead- ing to the emergence of new farms with strong mar- ket orientation, high production potential and mod- ern and technologically differentiated production systems. The 2019AC shows that farmers are responsible for managing about 5.0 million hectares of area (about 56% of the Portuguese mainland territory), of which 3.8 million hectares are Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA). However, regional disparities are wide (share of UAA throughout the territory varies between 11% and 79%) as a result, in particular, of the different importance of forestry activity, the concentration/ dispersion of land ownership, and soil characteris- tics. All these factors have also led to different devel- opments. On the other hand, compared to 2009, the total area of farm holdings increased by more than 400 thousand hectares, now occupying 55.5% of the total area. The UAA increased by +8.1%, countering the slight downward trend of the last two decades, with a slowdown in abandonment processes (-4.9% of farms in the last decade vs. -26.6% between 1999 and 2009) and a strong momentum of the sector associated with entrepreneurial farming. The entre- preneurial nature of agriculture has thus intensified, with agricultural companies managing 1/3 of the Utilised Agricultural Area (27.0% in 2009) and more than half of Livestock Units (41.1% in 2009). Large farms, with more than 50 hectares, manage 69% of the UAA, whereas small farms (less than 5 ha) represent 73% of all farm holdings. These character- istics have seen contrasting developments: a 57% decrease in the number of small farms and a 34% decrease in medium-sized farms, while the number of large farms increased by 34%. Permanent pasture represents more than half of the UAA, arable land 27% and permanent crops 22%. This predominance of grassland over arable land is the result of a long process, which has become even more visible in the last 20 years. In terms of land cover, there was a very sharp and widespread drop in the area occupied with arable land (-57% between 1989 and 2019), since much of this area was con- verted to permanent pasture. In addition to a strong sector response to policy stimuli, 2019AC results show a set of elements highly relevant for characterising the sector dynamics. Some of them were expected, others are new. The economic and technological development and the public policies that accompany it lead, in general, to a reallocation of resources that implies a decrease in the relative importance of agricultural activity, more marked in terms of economic variables (such as output and employment) than physical variables (such as land cover). Intrasectoral competition, more intense when Portuguese agriculture is integrated into increasingly larger economic areas, has elements that lead to the concentration of land ownership. These are long-term dynamics, common to both developed and developing countries, which have also occurred in Portugal. However, these trends were regionally diversified, depending on the type of land and the historical structure of land ownership. Where there was a land structure with parcels large enough to support an extensification process, the poorest soils were integrated into the UAA for graz- ing. Between 1989 and 2019, in the Alentejo, there was a 16.4% increase in the Utilised Agricultural Area. In Beira Litoral there was a 44% fall in the UAA, while Entre Douro e Minho and the Algarve fell by almost 26%. 3. Information analysis 3.1. Land use in mainland Portugal The territory of mainland Portugal occupies approx- imately 8.9 million hectares.