While rented land in in Italy in the most expensive in Europe, Ireland is coming in around the middle ground at €322/ha.

According to data from Eurostat, renting 1ha of arable land or permanent grassland was most expensive in Italy, followed closely by the Netherlands.

Renting agricultural land in 2020 was cheapest on average in Slovakia at €57/ha and Latvia at €71/ha.

Eurostat said that overall, renting permanent grassland was cheaper than renting arable land in Europe.

Understanding land prices and rents is a key element for understanding future perspectives for agriculture, Eurostat said: “The level of land prices depends on a number of factors.

“Competition for land comes not only from farmers but also from others planning to use land for purposes other than agriculture.

“As such, it is interesting to see prices at a point in time and note the developments in prices for regions over time.”

According to the data, the strongest growth between 2011 and 2020 for a hectare of arable land was seen in Romania and Czechia as both had over a five-fold increase.

Other sharp rises were seen in Estonia and Lithuania, with both countries experiencing about a three-and-a-half-fold increase, albeit remaining among the lowest national averages in the EU.

Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland had a two-fold increase.