What is measured
Farm numbers and farm size is an indicator based on data from Stats NZ's Agricultural Production Statistics (APS) programme, which collects data on farms that are registered for goods and services tax (GST) and earn over $60,000 a year.
We report on the number and total area of farms in Aotearoa New Zealand nationally from the APS census for 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022, and regionally from the APS census for 2002 and 2022.
Why it is important
The changes in number and size of farms is an important part of understanding the pressures that agricultural activities can place on soil and water health. Farm numbers have declined over the last decade, which in some cases is due to urban and peri-urban development. Farm size generally increases with economic development (Adamopoulos and Restuccia, 2014).
A decrease in farm size and numbers can lead to intensification and an increase in fertiliser use and irrigation. A growth in farm size can contribute to a decrease in farm numbers due to aggregation. This can lead to larger numbers of livestock and crops on bigger parcels of land, which can increase productivity and environmental impact (Foote et al., 2015).
Key findings
Between 2002 and 2022, from the APS census
Nationally
The total number of farms decreased steadily from 70,336 to 47,250 farms (33 percent).
The total land area of farms decreased from 15.6 million to 13.2 million hectares (15 percent).
| Year | Total farm numbers |
| 2002 | 70336 |
| 2007 | 63337 |
| 2012 | 58068 |
| 2017 | 52295 |
| 2022 | 47250 |
| Year | Total farm area (hectares) |
| 2002 | 15589885 |
| 2007 | 14700897 |
| 2012 | 14393802 |
| 2017 | 13900407 |
| 2022 | 13190749 |
By region
All regions had a decrease in farm numbers.
Waikato had the highest number of farms during this period, and also the biggest decrease in number of farms, from 11,745 to 8,217 farms (30 percent).
Nelson had the biggest proportional decrease in farm numbers from 185 to 90 (51 percent).
| Region | 2002 | 2022 |
| Northland | 5808 | 3747 |
| Auckland | 5469 | 2880 |
| Waikato | 11745 | 8217 |
| Bay of Plenty | 5722 | 4311 |
| Gisborne | 1351 | 960 |
| Hawke's Bay | 3923 | 2427 |
| Taranaki | 3933 | 2745 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 6480 | 4308 |
| Wellington | 2493 | 1497 |
| West Coast | 837 | 609 |
| Canterbury | 10292 | 6810 |
| Otago | 4081 | 3072 |
| Southland | 4376 | 3063 |
| Tasman | 1914 | 1164 |
| Nelson | 185 | 90 |
| Marlborough | 1690 | 1311 |
| Chatham Islands | 36 | 33 |
All regions, except Auckland, Nelson, and Chatham Islands, had a decrease in the total land area of farms.
Canterbury had the largest land area of farms during this period, and also the biggest decrease, falling from 3.2 million to 2.6 million hectares (18 percent).
Tasman had the biggest proportional decrease in total land area of farms from 277,000 to 160,000 hectares (42 percent).
| Region | 2002 | 2022 |
| Northland | 809897 | 640689 |
| Auckland | 301801 | 317764 |
| Waikato | 1730266 | 1537494 |
| Bay of Plenty | 599973 | 533026 |
| Gisborne | 643228 | 526150 |
| Hawke's Bay | 961804 | 881558 |
| Taranaki | 496540 | 449395 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 1545218 | 1303696 |
| Wellington | 503838 | 454719 |
| West Coast | 225454 | 190637 |
| Canterbury | 3150891 | 2585114 |
| Otago | 2378770 | 1957269 |
| Southland | 1198388 | 1052250 |
| Tasman | 277019 | 159912 |
| Nelson | 21331 | 51625 |
| Marlborough | 696049 | 494717 |
| Chatham Islands | 49418 | 54736 |
Where this data comes from
Stats NZ
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About the data
This data comes from the Agricultural Production Statistics (APS) programme that started in 2002. The programme is funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and is a joint collection under section 24 of the Data and Statistics Act 2022.
Every five years Stats NZ conducts an APS census of all registered farms and undertakes a sample survey in the intervening years. Previous APS censuses were held in 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2022, with annual sample surveys in 2003-06, 2008-11, 2013-16, 2018-21 and 2023.
The population of the APS census and survey has evolved over time and has been based on Stats NZ's Business Frame from 2002 and Business Register from 2015.
A farm is defined as one or more blocks of land, managed as a single operation that engages in agricultural activity. This includes farming of livestock, horticulture, viticulture, nurseries, forestry, growing grain and seed crops, and land that could be used for these purposes.
Farms that are goods and services tax (GST) registered and earn over $60,000 during a financial year are the target population.
Farmers are asked in the census/survey form to provide the total land area of the farm in hectares as of 30 June of that year. The question has remained unchanged over time.
We report on farm numbers (by count) and total farm area (in hectares) in New Zealand using APS census data from 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022. We also report this data for regions using APS census data from 2002 and 2022.
Census years will not contain sampling error. However, there will be non-sampling error associated with the imputation process applied to the data, given that not all farms respond.
Survey years use a stratified sample design. The population is stratified by region, size, and dominant farm type. Survey years will contain sampling error because estimates are made about the population using a sample.
Key findings are calculated using non-perturbed APS data that are published on Infoshare. All other datasets use a confidentiality method based on perturbed data that may change as part of a future APS release.
Due to rounding to protect confidentiality, individual figures may not add up to national totals for any given year, and values for the same data may vary in different tables.
The compulsory registration level for GST is $60,000 so there is a partial and unquantifiable coverage of farms below this level. Therefore, the data does not completely represent the true distribution at a regional or national level.
Agriculture production statistics - DataInfo+ provides more information on the methodology used to produce agricultural statistics and related metadata of each census and survey.
Data quality
The accuracy of the data source is of medium quality.
Farm numbers and farm size is an indirect measure of the 'Resource use and management and other human activities' topic.
Stats NZ and the Ministry for the Environment must report on topics related to the five environmental domains: air, atmosphere and climate, fresh water, land, and marine. These topics identify key issues within each domain.
Topics for environmental reporting describes the topics for each domain.
Data quality has more information about the criteria we use to assess data quality.
References
Adamopoulos, T., & Restuccia, D. (2014). The size distribution of farms and international productivity differences. American Economic Review, 104(6), 1667-1697. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.6.1667
Foote, K. J., Joy, M. K., & Death, R. G. (2015). New Zealand Dairy Farming: Milking our environment for all its worth. Environmental Management, 56(3), 709-720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0517-x
Archived pages
Archived December 2024:
Farm numbers and size - published April 2021
