To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish a table showing the concentration of agricultural land holdings and the decline in the number of farmers since 1961 in the United Kingdom and other EC countries.
This information is not available in the form requested.
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish a table showing the number of (a) holdings and (b) owners accounting for 25 per cent. and 50 per cent. of (i) farm land, excluding woodland and rough grazing, (ii) beef cattle, (iii) dairy cattle, (iv) cereals, (v) rapeseed and (vi) sugar beet.
The information requested is not readily available in the form requested. However, the following tables show for England and Wales, for 1990, the distribution of holdings by size in respect of each of items requested. Information on ownership is not available.
Table 5. Holdings by oilseed rape size groups
| |||||
Hectares
| <10
| 10–<20
| 20–<50
| 50 and over
| Total
|
| Holdings (thousand) | 2·8 | 4·1 | 4·7 | 1·5 | 13·1 |
| Oilseed rape (thousand ha.) | 18·9 | 58·5 | 144·3 | 121·5 | 343·2 |
Table 6. Holdings by sugar beet size groups
| |||||
Hectares
| <5
| 5–<20
| 20–<40
| 40 and over
| Total
|
| Holdings (thousand) | 2·1 | 5·4 | 1·9 | 1·1 | 10·5 |
| Sugar beet (thousand ha.) | 6·3 | 57·8 | 51·7 | 78·3 | 194·1 |