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Mr. Alex Carlile
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give an estimate of the number of people earning their living in the United Kingdom agriculture industry in each year since 1979; and if he will make a statement concerning Government policy towards that industry.
Mr. Curry
The number of persons recorded as being engaged in agriculture in the United Kingdom are shown in the table.
| Total number engaged in agriculture (thousand) | of which whole-time (thousand) | |
| 1979 | 740·3 | 402·6 |
| 1980 | 725·1 | 388·1 |
| 1981 | 709·9 | 379·2 |
| 1982 | 705·6 | 374·5 |
| 1983 | 699·3 | 370·5 |
| 1984 | 691·2 | 363·2 |
| 1985 | 690·6 | 356·0 |
| 1986 | 679·9 | 346·3 |
| 1987 | 666·2 | 336·0 |
| 1988 | 658·5 | 327·5 |
| 1989 | 644·9 | 318·1 |
| 11990 | 638·4 | 307·7 |
| 1 Provisional. | ||