Finland is located between the 60th and 70th latitudes. Farming is possible thanks to the Gulf Stream, which makes temperatures in Finland 3-4 Celsius-degrees higher than usual at these latitudes in other parts of the world.

Finland is about 1100 km long from north to south and climatic conditions vary considerably. In Southern Finland the growing season is 170 days, but in the north it is only 100 days. There is also a great deal of variation in effective total temperature. In the south it is about 1300 and in the north 500 degree days. From time to time there is frost even in the middle of the summer in all parts of the country.

Climatic conditions are a decisive factor in the location of crop production. Cultivation of wheat and oil-seed plants is restricted to Southern Finland. Whereas, barley, oats, grass and potatoes can be cultivated in all parts of the country. In many parts of Finland, livestock farming, especially dairy farming, is the only profitable form of production.

Finnish agriculture is based on family farms. In 2010 private persons owned 88,4 % of farms, heirs and family companies 10,4 %, corporations, foundations and cooperatives 2 % and the state, municipalities and parishes 1,0 %. On average, a working farmer was 51 years of age. 

In 2010 the total area under cultivation was 2.28 million ha. About 62,500 farms applied for the basic forms of agricultural support (in 1995 about 95,600 farms). In 2010 the average farm size was about 36,5 ha.

Every year a good number of small farms give up production, but in other respects structural development is slow. In practice, it is possible to increase the size of one´s farm by renting arable land. This has been on the increase. In 2010  about 35 % of the arable land area was rented.

The forest is an integral part of a Finnish farm. An average farm has 50 ha of forest. However, the regional distribution varies. In general, arable land area is larger and forest area is correspondingly smaller in the south than in the north.

About 18 % of working farms practice dairy husbandry as their main line of production. Specialisation in agriculture accelerated especially in the 1960s and 1970s. Nearly all farms used to produce milk. The number of milk suppliers has decreased steadily and in 2010 there were only 11,000 farms that supplied milk (in 1991 about 40,000 farms).

66 % of working farms practice crop production only as their main line of production.