Financial gap in the EU agricultural sector

This report offers a first look into the financial gap for agricultural enterprises for short-term and for medium and long-term loans. It is based on established European Commission methodology (Ex-ante assessment of the EU SME Initiative, 2013) and incorporates improved calculations. The input variables are based on updated data from Eurostat, the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) provided by DG AGRI and the SAFE survey. Wherever specific data for the agricultural sector was not available, approximations were used.

The total financial gap is estimated between EUR 7.06 billion and EUR 18.60 billion, with a range of EUR 1.56 billion - EUR 4.12 billion for short-term loans and EUR 5.50 billion - EUR 14.48 billion for medium and long-term loans. This analysis therefore shows a substantial short and longer-term financial gap for EU farmers.