On average, gross income for Norwegian farmers amounted to NOK 511 000 in 2011. This represents an increase of NOK 26 500, or 5 per cent, from the previous year, according to Statistics Norway (SSB).
Entrepreneurial income from agriculture averaged NOK 154 000, constituting 30 per cent of the gross income in 2011.
SSB points out that agricultural holdings vary considerably in size, from hobby-like production to holdings with a turnover of more than NOK 1 million. This is the main reason for the considerable variation in entrepreneurial income from agriculture and debt.
Farmers with cereals and oilseeds as type of farming had the lowest entrepreneurial income from agriculture in 2011. Agricultural income for this farm type fell by 15 per cent from 2010 to 2011, to NOK 66 000. As many as 43 per cent of these farmers had no positive income from agriculture in 2011 compared with 35 per cent the previous year. Only 8 per cent of farmers with specialist cereal and oilseed production had agriculture as the main source of income in 2011. Farmers with cereal and oilseed production had the highest wage income among the types of farming, with NOK 320 000 on average.
Farmers with specialist cattle dairying increased their agricultural income by 2 per cent, to NOK 284 000 in 2011. These farmers had the lowest gross income, with NOK 443 000. Farmers with other productions based on grazing livestock had almost unchanged agricultural income from 2010 to 2011. For farmers with specialist pig/poultry, gross income amounted to NOK 642 000. Agricultural income increased by NOK 28 000, to an average of NOK 368 000 in 2011.
Farmers had a total debt of NOK 66.5 billion in 2011, corresponding to an average of NOK 1.6 million per farmer. The debt ranged from just over NOK 900 000 for farmers with specialist sheep up to NOK 4.1 million on average for farmers with specialist pig/poultry. For farmers in Østfold, Vestfold and Rogaland, debt amounted to NOK 2.1 million on average, while average debt in Sogn og Fjordane was NOK 890 000. About 19 per cent of the farmers had less than NOK 100 000 in debt, while 9 per cent had more than NOK 4 million in debt. Total interest paid in 2011 amounted to NOK 2.5 billion, with an average of NOK 59 500 per farmer.
(Press release)
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