Inequality and Concentration in Farmland Production and Size: Regional Analysis for the European Union from 2010 to 2020

This article investigates the phenomenon of market concentration in the European agricultural sector from 2010 to 2020 at the regional level. To this end, we exploit the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Gini concentration index for farmland and production. First, we examine the variability within and between countries to assess whether the industry has suffered from increasing concentration during the study period. The next objective is to identify the empirical relationship between the two indicators and determine whether spatial spill-overs occur in terms of market concentration across regions. Our findings confirm the fragmented picture of the European agricultural sector, which is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity within and across countries as concerns both land concentration and production concentration. In addition, we confirm the existence of a positive association between the two concentration measures. Lastly, the remarkable spatial autocorrelation we observe supports the hypothesis that adjacent regions tend to register similar levels of concentration, generating clusters of regions with either high or low values.