Woman actively participates on a farm

The number of women working in the agricultural sector in 2017 amounted to more than 56.000. Most of them worked in family businesses. This is apparent from the definitive figures of the Agricultural Census of Statistics Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, about 2017 people were regularly employed in the agricultural sector in 170.000. Of all women active in the agricultural sector, 8 out of 10 worked in a family business. In total, more than 138.000 people were employed in family businesses last year, including 46.000 women. Of these, 55% indicated that they worked an average of 20 hours or more.

Which sector is the most popular?
The figures show that most women work on horse and pony farms. That came in a previous top 5 of Boerenbusiness even forward. In 2017, 47% of employees at these companies were women. Goat farming comes in second, where 40% of the employees are women. The least women are active in the flower bulb sector (26%).

Female business heads
In addition, it appears that approximately 2.800 women see active as head of business. However, that number decreased from 2005% to 2017% between 9 and 6. Here too, the horse and pony companies represent the largest group. 20% of these companies are headed by a woman. The number of female farmers is lowest in dairy farming (2%).

It is striking, however, that female farm managers often have a higher education than their male colleagues. About 22% of women had completed higher vocational or university education in 2016. This is approximately 12% for men. However, only 28% of those women have an agricultural education. For men, that percentage is 82%.

The women on the farm often have an outside job. In 2016, 27% of female business leaders had a job outside the company (23%). 

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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