Economics
Total income from farming in the United Kingdom was £5.69 billion in 2011, representing about 0.7% of the British national value added in that year. This is an increase of 25% in real terms on 2010, which was a historic low. Earnings were £30,900 per full-time person in 2011, which represented an increase of 24% from 2010 values in real terms. This was the best performance in UK agriculture since the 1990s. Agriculture employs 466,000 people, representing 1.52% of the workforce, down more than 32% since 1996. In terms of gross value added in 2009, 83% of the UK's agricultural income originated from England, 9% from Scotland, 4% from Northern Ireland and 3% from Wales.
Andrew George, Lib Dem agriculture spokesman, speaking in 2011.
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Crop Production value (2009) Rank (largest producers in Europe) Milk and dairy products £3,100,000,000 3 (Germany 1, France 2) Beef and veal £2,200,000,000 4 (France 1, Germany 2) Wheat £1,800,000,000 3 (France 1, Germany 2) Poultry meat £1,600,000,000 — Fresh vegetables £1,100,000,000 — Pig meat £1,000,000,000 9 (Germany 1, Spain 2) Lamb and mutton £962,000,000 1 (Spain 2, France 3) Plants and flowers £877,000,000 — Barley £645,000,000 — Potatoes £644,000,000 — Fresh fruit £571,000,000 — Eggs £562,000,000 — Oil seed rape £475,000,000 — Sugar beet £241,000,000 —
Most farmers of beef cattle or sheep made another net loss in the year to April 2010. Production, veterinary, bedding, property, power and machinery costs all underwent double-digit rises in percentage terms, meaning that the losses in the year to April 2010 increased over last year's losses by over £30/animal. However, wheat exports were much stronger than the previous year.
The UK's egg-laying flock is in decline. It fell by 5.5% in one year from June 1999 to May 2000. In 1971, there were 125,258 farms with egg-laying hens and by 1999 this was down to 26,500.
Read more about this topic: Agriculture In The United Kingdom
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