More female farm successors

In 2008, more than 11 thousand farm successors were ready to take over an agricultural or horticultural holding; 8.5 percent of them were women, as against 6.8 percent in 2000.

Farm successors by education level

Women higher educated than men

The level of education of farm successors has risen over the period 2000-2008, but the gap between the genders has widened. Nearly 22 percent of women had finished a higher vocational or university education in 2000 versus 39 percent in 2008. The corresponding figures for men were 15 percent in 2000 and nearly 22 percent in 2008. 

Men more often attended agricultural education

With 84 percent, men ready to take over a farm considerably more often had completed an agriculture-related form of education than women (53 percent) in 2008.

Wim de Rooij and Nelet Kuipers