Ireland has the fourth highest average land price in the EU at €25,724/ha, according to a new report by Eurostat.
Among EU member states for which data is available, the Netherlands topped the table with an average of €69,632/ha in 2019 for arable land.
The price of arable land in every region of the Netherlands was above all other available national averages in the EU. Luxembourg and Italy were placed second and third on the table.
Arable land was cheapest in Croatia, with a hectare costing an average €3,440 in 2020.
At a regional level, the most expensive prices for arable land were in the Canarias area of Spain with an average €120,477/ha in 2020. The least expensive region was Ovre Norrland in Sweden, with an average of €1,822 in 2020.
The strongest purchase price growth between 2011 and 2020 for a hectare of arable land was in Romania and Czechia, both recorded over a five-fold increase.
There were also sharp increases in prices in Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland.
Eurostat stated that prices rose in most other member states too, albeit at much lower rates. The notable exception was Greece, where the average price declined by around 18%.
In almost all regions for which data is available, buying arable land was more expensive than buying permanent grassland
The annual rental prices of one hectare of agricultural land – arable or permanent grassland – also vary starkly between countries and regions within countries.
The data shows that Ireland has the fifth highest average land rental price figure in the EU at just over €300/ha.
It was most expensive to rent land in Italy with an average of €837/ha per year. This was closely followed by the Netherlands where it was an average of €819/ha in 2019.
Renting agricultural land in 2020 was cheapest on average in Slovakia (€57/ha).
The highest regional average for renting one hectare of arable land or permanent grassland in 2020 was in Fruili-Venezia Giulia in Italy (€1,714/ha).
The cheapest regions were Mellersta Norrland and Ovre Norrland in Sweden (both €34/ha).
As with land prices, renting permanent grassland was cheaper than renting arable land.