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Mr. Geraint Howells
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many tenant farmers there are in Scotland; and what were the corresponding figures for the past 10 years.
Mr. John MacKay
While information on the number of farmers by type of tenure is not available, the number of agricultural holdings tenanted or mainly tenanted is set out in the following table. The information available for earlier years is not fully comparable.
| Year (June census) | Tenanted or mainly tenanted holdings (000's) |
| 1973 | 14·9 |
| 1974 | 14·8 |
| 1975 | 14·7 |
| 1976 | 14·8 |
| 1977 | 14·9 |
| 1978 | 14·7 |
| 1979 | 14·4 |
| 1980 | 14·3 |
| 1981 | 13·9 |
Note:"
The figures do not include 11,000 tenanted very small holdings, the great majority of which are crofts.