The agricultural statistics show changes in the number of farms, jobs, utilised areas, livestock and other data. Time series allow the development of important key figures to be shown over several years.
According to the constitution, the Confederation shall ensure that the agricultural sector, by means of a sustainable and market oriented production policy, makes an essential contribution towards the reliable provision of the population with foodstuffs, the conservation of natural resources and the upkeep of the countryside and the decentralised population settlement of the country. Agriculture has multifunctional tasks.
It is undergoing structural change: this can be seen in a decline in the number of farms and jobs, an increase in the size of farms, changes in livestock data and the way farms are run in general.