ABSTRACT
The Total Standard Gross Margin, expressed in European Units of Account is converted into a new size classification of farms based on the European Size Unit. In the censual period 1962—1989, Catalonia has lost almost half its farming activity. These losses are not equally spread over the region but are most marked in the areas close to urban and tourist centres, where the environment is less favourable to agriculture and where the appearance of alternative activities has replaced a declining agriculture. To the traditionally depressed areas–the mountainous zones of low economic activity and continued depopulation–other areas have been added as a result of various European policies. The disappearance of the economic frontier in 1993, for example, has brought economic ruin to the Catalan frontier points where the circulation of goods was particularly high. Two of the main characteristics of the Catalan agricultural workforce are its advanced age and its part-time dedication to agriculture.
