Dairy Farming

Sir Nicholas Winterton
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dairy farms went out of business in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many of these farms were located in Cheshire.

Barry Gardiner
Information on numbers of holdings is collected in the annual June survey of agriculture and horticulture. No information is collected on the number of holdings leaving the industry. The following figures show the number of registered holdings at June each year where dairy was the predominant activity. These figures show net change only and therefore include gains as well as losses.

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|                                                                                                                                                                                    |England|Cheshire CC|Halton and Warrington UA|
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|2004                                                                                                                                                                                |13,264 |887        |10                      |
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|2005                                                                                                                                                                                |12,918 |851        |1—                      |
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|2006                                                                                                                                                                                |12,626 |836        |1—                      |
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|1 Suppressed to ensure the confidentiality of individual holdings.Note:Estimates have been made for holdings on surveyed and holdings not responding.Source:June Agricultural Survey|       |           |                        |
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