Agriculture is typically defined as the science or business of cultivating the soil, growing crops and rearing livestock. Farming is the skill of practising agriculture. The purpose of agriculture is to provide planned food utilisation for its dependant societies and although growing crops and rearing livestock are fundamental to this, it is the storage of produce that makes this possible.
In the UK there are three main approaches adopted by farmers in their farming system. These are defined as organic, conventional and integrated.
Over 6000 years ago the first farmers started clearing the native wildwood that covered the UK. They grew crops, reared livestock and learned techniques for storing produce so that food could be made available throughout the year. Later they settled permanently in particular areas and with adequate food supplies started to develop other skills; civilisation was born.
This guide provides an overview of some of the key measures used in agriculture along with a series of imperial to metric conversions.
A guide to Agricultural and Farming Acronyms that are in common use in the UK. Please note, that although an acronym may still be used, the organisation or scheme may long since have lapsed. For example: MMB - The Milk Marketing Board which was disbanded in 2002.
Contribution of agriculture to the economy. In the UK, like all other developed countries, agriculture has declined relative to the Gross Value Added (GVA) measure.
Historic data since 1890 derived from MAFF statistics.
The level at which a region disposes of its surplus products (exports) or purchases supplies from abroad (imports) sets the price of most agricultural commodities. The UK is a major producer of wheat, mainly of animal feed quality, malting barley, for beer and whiskey production and Oilseed Rape for cooking oil and bio-diesel.
Sustainable agriculture and its role in the future of farming are currently focus of much debate with repeated calls for agriculture to become more sustainable. However, the fashionable rush to judge agriculture as unsustainable, is misplaced. Agriculture, which has provided for the development of civic and urban society over the last 6000 years, supplies around 70% of our food needs and manages and cares for the countryside that we cherish.
LEAF was set up in 1991. At that time, the gap between consumers and farmers was getting wider and the need to meet and understand both sides of the debate was essential. For the first time a group of farmers, environmentalists, food and agricultural organisations, consumers, government and academics got together to do something positive for the farming industry.
Since the early 1990's, organic farming in the UK has expanded rapidly and by mid 2003 accounted for 4% of the agricultural land area with nearly 4000 farms managing some 720,000 hectares. This growth has been driven by consumers and policy makers who see organic farming as making a contribution to environmental, welfare, social and nutritional goals.
One of the questions that we are most often asked is whether in becoming a vegetarian, a person will be positively aiding animal welfare and conservation.
There has been a general perception in the media and with the public at large that GMO's exist largely in the form of new crops producing Frankenstein Foods. In fact there are many different types of GMO under production, some of which we consume on a regular basis.
There have been few issues related to modern agriculture that have been quite so contentious as that of Genetic Modification and with the media portraying dramatic images of "frankenstein foods", it has been little wonder that opinion has been so polarised.
There has been much debate over the adoption of genetically modified crops in the UK. In this article we address some of the commonly identified issues and offer our own "smiley based" risk assessment.
The Curry Report was set up "to advise the Government on how we can create a sustainable, competitive and diverse farming and food sector which contributes to a thriving and sustainable rural economy, advances environmental, economic, health and animal welfare goals, and is consistent with the Government's aims for Common Agricultural Policy reform, enlargement of the EU and increased trade liberisation."
The changing nature of EU support for agriculture is illustrated below. The colour classification relates to the WTO interpretation of the support and how this is continuing to develop in response to WTO rules.
Diffuse development is the provision of small clusters of very low impact housing in farmyards throughout the country. The houses should be built of local materials, discretely placed and subject to the planning condition that they are made available for letting and cannot be sold outside the farm business.
Published in December 2004 a booklet "Farm, Food & Countryside", created by well known farmer Guy Smith, put the case for British agriculture. Designed to counter some of the negative spin so evident in the media, the booklet presented information in an easy and informative style that could be read by non-experts.
The case for a sustainable UK agricultural industry and for national food security are put by The Commercial Farmers Group (CFG).
