Agriculture in The United Kingdom - Overview

Overview

The total area of agricultural holdings is about 17.1 million hectares (43 million acres), or 18.3 million including rough grazing land, of which 6.2 million hectares (15.3 million acres) are arable. During the growing season about half the arable area is devoted to cereal crops, and of the cereal crop area, more than 65% is wheat. There are about 31 million sheep, 10 million cattle, 9.6 million poultry and 4.5 million pigs. These are arranged on almost 327,000 holdings, on which the average cultivable area is around 54 hectares (130 acres) each. About 70% of farms are owner-occupied or mostly so (perhaps with individual barns or fields let out), and the remainder are rented to tenant farmers. Farmers represent an ageing population, partly due to low earnings and barriers to entry, and it is increasingly hard to recruit young people into farming. The average farm holder is now 59 years old.

British farming is intensive and highly mechanised, but the country is so heavily populated that it cannot supply its own food needs. The UK produces only 59% of the food it consumes. In 2010, it exported £14 billion worth of food, feed and drink, and imported £32.5 billion. The vast majority of imports and exports are with other Western European countries.

Farming is subsidised, with subsidies to farmers totalling £3.19 billion (after deduction of levies) paid in 2010. These mostly originate from the EU Common Agricultural Policy. The UK receives the fifth largest agricultural subsidy in the EU, with 7% of the subsidy, after France (17%), Spain (13%), Germany (12%), and Italy (10%). There is downward pressure on the subsidies and on 19 November 2010, the EU announced a reform starting in 2013. At the Agriculture in the United Kingdom Seminar 2010, it was thought that subsidies will decrease over time, and that the number of farms and the number of farmers will continue to decline, while the derivatives and futures markets will become more important to farming. Output volume rose by 1.9% in 2010 compared to 2009, productivity increased by 1.6%, and direct subsidies fell by 12%. Since 1973, productivity has grown by 49%, output volumes have increased by 25% and input volumes have fallen by 16%.