The agricultural labour force consists of all persons above compulsory school age (over 16 years old) who carried out agricultural work between October 1st and September 30th of the reference years.

Persons who have reached retirement age and continue to work on the holding shall be included as part of the agricultural labour force.

The term ‘agricultural labour force’ refers to the labour force directly employed by the holding.

Includes:
- Organisational and management work: buying, selling, accounting.
- Work involving sowing, cultivating and harvesting crops.
- Work involving livestock: preparing and distributing food, milking and caring for livestock.
- Storage and preparation work on the holding: silaging, churning, packaging.
- Maintenance work on buildings, machinery and facilities.

Within the agricultural labour force on the holding, we distinguish between work done by:
- the manager of the holding,
- the holder (not manager) and their relatives, and
- the non-family labour force directly employed by the holding, which may or may not be regularly employed.

Agricultural work is considered to be all human activity that contributes to the economic performance of the agricultural holding.

Family labour force

In the case of holdings where the holder is a natural person, the holder’s family labour force shall be taken into account.

Family labour force refers to persons who help another member of the family to run an agricultural holding or other business, provided they are not considered employees.

Members of the holder's family who carry out agricultural work (apart from housework) may include their spouse, relatives in ascending and descending line, and siblings of the holder or of their spouse. Where applicable, this includes the manager who is a member of the holder's family. They do not necessarily need to live on the holding.

Other relatives (e.g. cousins who participate in agricultural work) may also be included if they live and work on the agricultural holding together with the holder’s family, or in a house located on the same plot of land and “have a common family nucleus”.

The number of relatives classified by sex and intervals of full-time days, or equivalent, worked on the holding is recorded.

Non-family labour force

The agricultural work force directly employed by the agricultural holding refers to persons who work on the agricultural holding, whether or not on a regular basis.

A distinction is made between:

Non-family labour force regularly working on the holding

The non-family labour force regularly employed on the agricultural holding comprises persons other than the holder and family members who carried out agricultural work on the holding every week during the agricultural year, irrespective of the hours worked during the week and whether they received any type of remuneration (salary, wages, earnings or other payments, including payments in kind).

It covers labour performed by permanent salaried employees who worked on a continuous basis throughout the year.

It includes persons who were only able to work for part of the agricultural year for the following reasons:

- Special production conditions on the holding only requiring labour for part of the agricultural year.
- Absence due to holidays, sickness, accident or death.
- Commencement or cessation of employment on the holding. Includes workers who leave one holding to start working on another during the agricultural year.
- Complete stoppage of work on the holding due to accidental causes (flooding, fire, etc.).

The number of persons classified by sex and intervals of full-time days, or equivalent, worked on the holding is recorded.

The manager of the holding is also included where they are not counted as part of the family labour force.

Besides sex and age group, research is conducted on whether salaried holding managers carry out other additional activities, distinguishing between additional activities directly linked to the holding and those not directly linked to the holding.

- Other permanent salaried employees involved in additional activities directly related to the holding are also taken into account, with a distinction being made as to whether the activity is a main or secondary activity.

Non-family labour force employed on the holding on a non-regular basis

-Non-family labour force employed sporadically:

These are persons who did not work on the agricultural holding every week during the 12 reference months of the survey, for a reason other than those listed in the point concerning the non-family labour force regularly working on the agricultural holding.

Working days completed by the non-family labour force employed sporadically are all working days of such a duration that the worker receives a salary or any kind of remuneration (wages, earnings or other payments, including payments in kind) corresponding to one full-time working day, and during which they carry out the work normally performed by a full-time agricultural worker. Holiday and sick days shall not be counted as working days.

-Labour force employed by contractors:

Includes the total number of full-time working days completed by all persons not directly employed by the holder of the agricultural holding during the agricultural year, and not included in the previous categories (e.g. subcontractors employed by third parties). Excludes work carried out by accountancy firms and mutual aid work where no remuneration is involved.