UK Farming - an introduction

Types of farming:

The climate and topography of the UK lends itself to two distinct types of farming.

Pastoral farming (the use of grass pasture for livestock rearing) is found in areas of higher rainfall and among the hills, predominantly to the north and west of the UK.

Arable farming (land that can be ploughed to grow crops) is concentrated in the south and east of the UK where the climate is drier and soils are deeper.

Farming systems:

In the UK there are three main approaches adopted by farmers in their farming system. These are defined as organic, conventional and integrated. Organic farming represents around 4% of the farmed area and is based upon the concept of sustainability utilising the farm's own resources. Conventional farming adopts modern technology and utilises other inputs such as pesticides and artificial fertilisers while integrated farming makes the conventional approach sustainable. Most conventional farmers practice integrated farming.

Media characterisation of the UK's farming systems has widely depicted organic farming as good with conventional as bad. This simplification misses the point as in practice a cross over of approaches exist on most farms.

Farms, farmers and the workforce:

In the UK there are approximately 300,000 active farms with an average size of around 57 hectares, much larger than the European average size of approximately 20 hectares. However the UK's high average size is swelled by the impact of Scotland where the average farm size is over 100 hectares. In England average size is around 50 hectares. For Wales and Northern Ireland, sizes are smaller at around 40 hectares.

Despite the relatively large number of farms in the UK, the majority of the agricultural area is farmed by a much smaller number of farmers. Some 41,000 farms (~14% of the total) are larger than 100 hectares and account for over 65% of the agricultural area.

In 2006 the UK farming workforce (full-time, part-time and casual) amounted to 184,000 persons. There were 152,000 full time farmers with a further 198,000 part-timer owners engaged in some capacity in the farm business. The total farming labour force of 534,000 in 2006 had been broadly stable over the previous five years but was down 80,000 on a decade earlier.

Farming incomes:

UK farming incomes are defined at the industry level by a measure known as Total Income from Farming (TIFF) and at the farm level by a measure known as Net Farm Income. Both measures have exhibited long term decline since the 1960's, reaching a low point in 2000 with average Net Farm Income at just £8700. Since then both measures have risen and for 2006 Net Farm Income has been calculated at £20,600. This compares with median annual earnings for full time employees throughout the UK of just over £22,000 for the year 2002/3.

Farming and the environment:

Farmers are responsible for managing around 75% of the UK's surface area and for maintaining many features that are inherrently perceived as "countryside". Whether they be, hedges, ditches, meadows or copses, all have resulted from centuries of farming activity and today they are closely integrated into farming practice. Regretably this has not always been the case. In the 1970's and 80's farmers responded to government incentives to become more efficient often destroying habitats and countryside features in the process. The reversal of this process in the 1990's is best illustrated by our uk farming conservation database which illustrates the diversity and enthusiasm by which farmers have embraced environmental care

Related links:

UK farming statistics
Farming pictures
Farming news
Farmland biodiversity in practice

The farming industry	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Agriculture contribution to economy (£ millions)	6720	6852	7151	7421	7165	5109	5280
% GDP (present value) (%)	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.5	0.5
Imports (£ millions)	16828	18267	19091	20944	24280	25210	25901
Exports (£ millions)	8702	8506	8915	9881	10736	10698	10955
Balance of Trade (£ millions)	-8126	-9761	-10176	-11063	-13544	-14512	-14946
Self sufficiency all foods (%)	67	63	62.4	63.5	62.3	60.1	59.0
Self sufficiency indigenous foods (%)	80	75	75.5	76.6	75.0	73.1	72.0
Total Income from Farming (£ millions)	1499	1661	2228	2839	2558	2171	2303
Average Net Farm Income (£)	8700	13000	13900	24300	17500	17500	20600
Farmland price England (£ per hectare)		7406	6915	7172	7654	8651	9249
Farmland price Wales (£ per hectare)		5192	6513	6498	6107
Farmland price Scotland (£ per hectare)		2894	3984
Farmland price Northern Ireland (£ per hectare)		9961	12456	14475	16286	19837
Food manufacturing GVA (£ millions)				20679	21307	21096	21213
Food wholesaling GVA (£ millions)				6633	7880	7430	9731
Food retailing GVA (£ millions)				17947	19221	19782	21294
Food non-residential catering GVA (£ millions)				18359	21126	20864	21284
Agri food contribution to economy (% GVA)				7.4	7.3	6.8	6.9
Farm plant, machinery, vehicles (£ millions value)				6950	7007	7114	7215
Breeding livestock (£ millions value)				3849	4014	4020	4183
Trading livestock (£ millions value)				2840	2644	2360	2485
Crops and stores (£ millions value)				2191	2251	2139	2191
Agriculturalt debtors and cash (£ millions value)				4721	4662	4871	4662
Agricultural long term debts (£ millions value)				4872	4954	5130	5570
Agricultural short term debts (£ millions value)				10036	10113	10919	11195

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