Farming is no privileged sector in the EU: the average income in the agricultural sector (including fishing and forestry) in the EU was €14,870 in 1998 compared with €28,245 for a services employee and €33,753 for a general industrial worker. Even if an average for agricultural income includes a wider variation than for other sectors (as much depends on type and size of farm), as a general rule, these figures show that they are by no means privileged.
Même si le revenu agricole moyen dissimule une amplitude plus grande que dans d'autres secteurs (le revenu étant essentiellement fonction du type et de la taille de l'exploitation), ces chiffres montrent que, d'une manière générale, le secteur agricole est loin d'être privilégié.