Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 69% of the country's land area, employs
1.5% of its workforce (476,000 people) and contributes 0.62% of its gross value
added (£9.9 billion). The UK produces less than 60% of the food it eats. Although
agricultural activity occurs in most rural locations, it is concentrated in East
Anglia (crops) and the South West (livestock). Of the 212,000 farm holdings, there is
a wide variation in size from under 20 to over 100 hectares.
Despite skilled farmers, high technology, fertile soil and subsidies, farm earnings are
relatively low, mainly due to low prices at the farm gate. Low earnings, high land
prices and a shortage of let farmland discourage young people from joining the
industry. The average age of the British farm holder is now 59.
Recently there have been moves towards organic farming in an attempt to sustain
profits, and many farmers supplement their income by diversifying activities away
from pure agriculture. Biofuels present new opportunities for farmers against a
background of rising fears about fossil fuel prices, energy security, and climate
change. There is increasing awareness that farmers have an important role to play
as custodians of the British countryside and wildlife.
The total area of agricultural holdings is about 171,000 km2 (43 million acres), or
183,000 km2 including rough grazing land, of which about a third, 64,000 km2 (15.3
million acres) are arable and most of the rest is given over to grassland. 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 about
212,000 holdings whose average cultivable area is around 54 hectares (130 acres).
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 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 subsidies are mostly channelled through the
EU Common Agricultural Policy from member states' contributions. UK farmers
receive 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. Output volume rose by 1.9% in 2010 compared to 2009, productivity
increased by 1.6%, and direct subsidies fell by 12%. Between 1979 and 2010,
productivity grew by 49%, output volumes by 25% and input volumes fell by 16%
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While there is little difference between farming practices in England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland in places where the terrain is similar, the geography and the
quality of the farmland does have an impact. In Wales, 80% of the farmland is
designated as a "Less Favoured Area", and in Scotland the figure is 84%. "Less
Favoured Area" means land that produces a lower agricultural yield, typically upland
moors and hill farms, which explains the tendency to focus on sheep and sometimes
dairy farming. In England, the eastern and southern areas where the fields are
flatter, larger and more open tend to concentrate on cereal crops, while the hillier
northern and western areas with smaller, more enclosed fields tend to concentrate
on livestock farming.
Farming was introduced in the British Isles between about 5000 BC and 4500 BC
from Syria after a large influx of Mesolithic people and following the end of
the Pleistocene epoch. It took 2,000 years for the practice to extend across all of the
isles. Wheat and barley were grown in small plots near the family home. Sheep,
goats and cattle came in from mainland Europe and pigs were domesticated from
wild boar already living in forests. There is evidence of agricultural and huntergatherer groups meeting and trading with one another in the early part of the
Neolithic.] Archaeologists disagree about how quickly the transition from huntergatherer to agricultural society took place.
The Saxons and the Vikings had open field farming systems. Under
the Normans and Plantagenets fens were drained, woods cleared and farmland
expanded to feed a rising population, until the Black Death reached Britain in 1349.
This and subsequent epidemics caused the population to fall; one-third of the
population in England died of the plague between 1349-50. In consequence, areas
of farmland were abandoned. The feudal system began to break down as labourers,
who were in short supply following the plague, demanded wages (instead of
subsistence) and better conditions. Also, there were a series of poor harvests after
about 1315, coinciding with some evidence (from tree rings) of poor weather across
the whole of northern Europe, which continued on and off until about 1375. The
population did not recover to 1300 levels for two or three hundred years.
1500 to 1750
When King Henry VIII named himself Supreme Head of the Church of England in
1531, he set about the dissolution of the Monasteries, which was largely complete by
1540. The monasteries had been among the principal landowners in the Kingdom
and the Crown took over their land, amounting to about 2,000,000 acres
(810,000 ha). This land was largely sold off to fund Henry's military ambitions in
France and Scotland, and the main buyers were the aristocracy and landed gentry.
Agriculture boomed as grain prices increased six-fold by 1650. Improvements in
transport, particularly along rivers and coasts, brought beef and dairy products from
the north of England to London.
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The Kingdom of Great Britain was created on 1 May 1707, as a result of the Acts of
Union putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union. At this time, Jethro Tull,
a Berkshire farmer, had recently invented his famous rotating-cylinder seed drill. His
1731 book, The New Horse Hoeing Husbandry, explained the systems and devices
he espoused to improve agriculture. The book had such an impact that its influence
can still be seen in some aspects of modern farming. Charles Townsend, a viscount
known as "Turnip Townsend", retired from Parliament in 1730 and in the years
between then and his death in 1738, introduced turnip farming on a large scale. This
created four-crop rotation (wheat, turnips, barley and clover) which allowed fertility to
be maintained with much less fallow land. Clover increases mineral nitrogen in the
soil and clover and turnips are good fodder crops for livestock, which in turn improve
the soil by their manure.
1750 to 1850
British Agricultural Revolution
Between 1750 and 1850, the English population nearly tripled, with an estimated
increase from 5.7 million to 16.6 million, and all these people had to be fed from the
domestic food supply. This was achieved through intensified agriculture and land
reclamation from the Fens, woodlands, and upland pastures. The crop mix changed
too, with wheat and rye replacing barley. Nitrogen fixing plants such as legumes led
to sustainable increased yields. These increased yields, combined with improved
farming machinery and then-new capitalist ways of organising labour, meant that
increased crop production did not need much more manpower, which freed labour
for non-agricultural work. Indeed, by 1850 Britain had the smallest proportion of its
population engaged in farming of any country in the world, at 22%.
This period included a twenty-year depression in agriculture that started with the end
of the Napoleonic Wars and lasted until 1836. This depression was so severe that
landlords as well as tenants suffered financial ruin, and large areas of farmland were
entirely abandoned. This showed the problems of the ancient landlord and tenant
system in running new-style, capital-intensive farms, and it caused concern in
Parliament. The system began to improve, for example by distinguishing between
farm improvements that the tenant should fund, and those the landlord should
fund.[29]
From the end of the depression in 1836 until Parliament repealed the Corn Laws in
1846, agriculture flourished. The repeal of the Corn Laws steadied prices, though
agriculture remained prosperous. At that time, Parliament was concerned with the
issue of tenant right, i.e. the sum payable to an outgoing tenant for farm
improvements that the tenant had funded and, if crops were in the ground when the
tenant left, compensation for their value. This was down to local custom which might
vary from place to place. In 1848, a parliamentary committee examined the
possibility of a standardised system, but a Bill on the matter was not passed until
1875.
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1850 to 1939
Great Depression of British Agriculture
The American Civil War ended in 1865, and by 1875, with new steam-powered
railways and ships, the United States was exporting a substantial excess of cereals.
At the same time, Britain suffered a series of poor harvests. By 1891 reliable
refrigeration technology brought cheap frozen meat from Australia, New Zealand and
South America to the British market, and Parliament felt it had to intervene to support
British farming. The Agricultural Holdings (England) Act 1875 revamped the law on
tenant right such that tenants received consistent levels of compensation for the
value of their improvements to the holding and any crops in the ground. It also gave
tenants the right to remove fixtures they had provided, increased the period of a
Notice to Quit from six months to twelve, and brought in an agricultural dispute
resolution procedure.
Ivel Tractor in Plough
Some Landlords reacted to the 1875 Act by refusing to let land on a tenancy, instead
contracting out the labour to contract farmers. Parliament responded with
the Agricultural Holdings (England) Act 1883, which prevented contracting out on
terms less favourable than a normal tenancy. Subsequent Agricultural Holdings Acts
in 1900 and 1906 further refined the dispute resolution procedure; required landlords
to compensate tenants for their damaged crops if the damage was caused by game
that the landlord did not allow tenants to kill; allowed tenants to choose for
themselves what crops to grow, except in the last year of the tenancy; and prevented
penal rents being charged except in special circumstances. The mass of legislation
was consolidated in another Act of 1908. Further Agricultural Holdings Acts came
into force in 1914, two in 1920, and a further consolidating Act in 1923. [32]
Invented in around 1885, the digging plough is a plough with a wider share, which
cuts a wider shallower furrow, after which the slice of soil is inverted by a short
concave mould-board with a sharp turn. This has the effect of breaking up and
pulverising the soil, leaving no visible furrow and facilitating the use of a seed drill for
planting. Earlier ploughs were simply large hoes for stirring the soil, drawn by
animals, that left furrows suitable for distribution of seed by hand.
The Board of Agriculture was established by Act of Parliament in 1889. Although
rationing during the First World War was limited to the end of 1917 and 1918, a
change of mood arose about food security, and the Ministry of Food was created in
1916. There was a national feeling that a man who had fought for his country should
be entitled to retire to a smallholding on British land that would provide him with a
livelihood. This led to various initiatives, collectively called Homes for Heroes. By
1926 agricultural law had become openly redistributive in favour of ex-servicemen.
County Councils had compulsory purchase powers to requisition land they could let
as smallholdings. Ex-servicemen were the preferred tenants.
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The tenant could then buy the land and could ask the Council to lend them money to
fund the purchase as a mortgage. The Council could not refuse without the Minister
of Agriculture's permission.
In 1919 the Board of Agriculture and the Ministry of Food were merged to form the
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which later became the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food (MAFF). MAFF was in turn the predecessor of DEFRA.
1939 to 1945
British tanks in a Yorkshire cornfield in 1942.
Rationing in the United Kingdom
Before the Second World War started, Britain imported 55 million tons of food a year.
By the end of 1939, this had dropped to 12 million, and food rationing was introduced
at the start of 1940. It did not completely end until July 1954. The government tried to
encourage people to grow their own food in victory gardens, and householders were
encouraged to keep rabbits and chickens for the table. Because so many men had
been conscripted into the army, women were drafted in to work the land; they were
called the Women's Land Army, or less formally, "land girls".
Famously, the Government responded to a temporary wartime oversupply of carrots
by suggesting that the RAF's exceptional night-flying was due to eating carotene.
The ruse worked: consumption of carrots increased sharply because people thought
carrots might help them see in the blackout, thus taking the pressure off other food
supplies. But with so much of the agricultural labour force fighting, pressure on food
supplies worldwide increased throughout the war. His Majesty's (King George VI)
government estimated that in 1945 world meat consumption would exceed supply by
1.8 million tons and that only wheat would be "available in abundance". The Prime
Minister suggested that if necessary, food supplies could take priority over supplies
for the military, and considered the possibility of famine in the occupied territories
after the war.
1945 to present
The Agriculture Act 1947 broadly revamped agricultural law. It was a reaction to the
privations of the Second World War, and was aimed at food security, so as to reduce
the risk of a hostile foreign power being able to starve the UK into submission. The
Act guaranteed prices, markets and tenure, so that a farmer could be assured that
his land would not be taken away and whatever he grew would be sold at a known
price. Yet another consolidating Agricultural Holdings Act followed it in 1948.
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These Acts made it harder to evict tenant farmers. With the new security tenants
enjoyed, a system of rent reviews was necessary to take account of land price
inflation. There were many other changes in the law, and each of these Acts needed
negotiations between the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Farmers
Union (NFU) to fix the support price to be paid for each agricultural product. They
were enacted in a series of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Acts in 1949,
1954, 1963, 1968 and 1972.
The Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 was another far-reaching
revamp of the law. At the time it was passed, the Lib-Lab Pact of 1976 needed Plaid
Cymru's support in Parliament, and the provisions of this Act were part of Plaid
Cymru's price for their vote. This Act allowed for succession of agricultural tenancies,
so on a farmer's death, a relative with relevant skills or experience and no holding of
his own could inherit the tenancy. This was limited to two generations of tenant.
On government instructions, the Northfield Committee began to review the country's
agricultural system in 1977. It did not report until July 1979, by which time Margaret
Thatcher's administration held power. The report influenced ongoing discussions
between the NFU and the Country Landowners Association (CLA), who were trying
to reach an agreement on new Agricultural Holdings legislation that could be
presented to Parliament as having industry-wide support. This was agreed in 1984,
but the two sides had not been able to agree a fundamental change to the security of
tenure legislation. It did change the succession rules for existing tenancies such that
a farmer might pass on his tenancy on retirement as well as on death—but no new
tenancies from 1984 were to include succession rights.
By this time the then European Economic Community (now the European
Community)'s Common Agricultural Policy and the value of the green pound was
having a direct impact on farming. The Agriculture Act 1986 was concerned with the
value of the milk quota attached to land, and particularly how it ought to be shared
between landlord and tenant. Nowadays, milk quotas no longer exist, but other
subsidies (largely rolled up into Single Payments) still need to be divided between
the parties.
Politics and education
The National Farmers Union
The National Farmers Union (NFU) was begun by a group of
nine Lincolnshire farmers and, as the "Lincolnshire Farmers Union", held its first
meeting in 1904. By 1908 they were called the National Farmers Union and were
meeting in London. During the Second World War, the NFU worked hand in glove
with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure food security. Rationing continued after the
war and it is a measure of the NFU's influence at that time that, when the Agriculture
Act 1947 committed the government to undertake a national review of the industry
every year in consultation with the NFU.
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The close relationship between the NFU and the MAFF continued until New
Labour reformed the MAFF into Defra in 2001, and indeed the MAFF was sometimes
(if unfairly) called the "NFU's political wing". Defra is seen as more independent,
although the NFU does remain a powerful and effective lobbying body that wields
considerable influence in proportion to the industry's economic value.
Agricultural colleges
By the latter half of the nineteenth century, as farming grew more complex and
methodical and as productivity increased, there was a dawning recognition that
farmers needed agricultural education. The Royal Agricultural University, which was
the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world, opened as the Royal
Agricultural College in 1845. It was granted its royal charter shortly after its founding.
Thanks to government financial support for agricultural education in the 1890s, the
Royal Agricultural College was followed by Writtle College in 1893 and Harper
Adams University College in 1901. Meanwhile, the West of Scotland Agricultural
College formed in 1899, the East of Scotland Agricultural College in 1901, and the
North of Scotland Agricultural College in 1904; these colleges amalgamated to form
the Scottish Agricultural College in 1990.
Economics
Total income from farming in the United Kingdom was £5.38 billion in 2014,
representing about 0.7% of the British national value added in that year. This is a fall
of 4.4% in real terms since 2014. Earnings were £30,900 per full-time person in
2011, which represented an increase of 24% from 2010 values in real terms. This
was the best performance in UK agriculture since the 1990s. Agriculture employs
476,000 people, representing 1.5% of the workforce, down more than 32% since
1996. In terms of gross value added in 2009, 83% of the UK's agricultural income
originated from England, 9% from Scotland, 4% from Northern Ireland and 3%
from Wales.
The top twenty agricultural products of the United Kingdom by value as reported by
the Food and Agriculture Organization in 2012 (volume in metric tons):[48][49]
Most farmers of beef cattle or sheep made another net loss in the year to April 2010.
Production, veterinary, bedding, property, power and machinery costs all underwent
double-digit rises in percentage terms, meaning that the losses in the year to April
2010 increased over last year's losses by over £30/animal. However, wheat exports
were much stronger than the previous year.
The UK's egg-laying flock is in decline. It fell by 5.5% in one year from June 1999 to
May 2000. In 1971, there were 125,258 farms with egg-laying hens and by 1999 this
was down to 26,500.
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The agricultural area used is 17.2 million hectares, about 70% of the land area of the
United Kingdom. 36% of the agricultural land is croppable (arable), or 25% of the
total land area. Most of the rest is grassland, rough grazing, or woodland.
Soil is a complex mix of mineral and organic components, produced when rock is
weathered and acted on by living organisms. Most British soils are 2% to 5% organic
and 95% to 98% mineral, but soils such as peat may contain up to 50% organic
matter. In the British Isles as far south as the Thames Valley, the soil has been
heavily glaciated, which not only ground down the rock but redistributed the resulting
matter. As a result, most British soils date from the last Ice Age and are
comparatively young, but in level areas and particularly south of the Thames Valley,
there are much older soils.
Many British soils are quite acidic, and a large proportion of British farm land needs
repeated applications of alkaline (traditionally lime) to remain fertile. Nitrites are
soluble, so rain rapidly carries them away. Acid rain increases soil acidity, but even
normal rain tends to be slightly acid, increasing the natural acidity of British
soil. Rainfall in Britain exceeds the rate of evaporation. This means that in freely
drained areas, soil base material is washed away, which leads to a higher
concentration of organic acids in the ground. This relatively high soil acidity is one of
the factors that lead to liming. Lime tends to counteract soil acidity, and with fine
particulate soils such as clays, also encourages the formation of a better soil crumb
structure that will aerate and help with drainage. Its benefits have been known, if not
scientifically understood, since Roman times.
Soffe (2003) summarises the acidity of British soils as follows: Owing to high rainfall in the UK, less freely drained areas tend to become
waterlogged. Wet land may be unable to bear a tractor's weight, and drainage makes
soil lighter and more easily worked, improves crops' ability to absorb food because
there is more root surface area, stimulates helpful micro-organisms and allows
accumulated poisons to be carried away. In Britain field drains are traditionally open
ditches, but increasingly, covered pipes have been used in more modern
times. Earthworms are important for creating small drainage channels in the soil and
helping to move soil particles.
No appreciable plant growth takes place at temperatures below 4 °C. The growth
rate increases as temperature rises, up to a maximum limit which is of no relevance
to the British Isles. Dark soils tend to absorb more heat, and are therefore preferred.
As crops grow, they absorb nutrients from the soil, so land fertility degrades over
time. However, if organic matter poor in nitrogen but rich in carbohydrate is added to
the soil, nitrogen is assimilated and fixed. Fertility increases while land is under
grass, which helps to accumulate organic matter in the soil. These factors mean that
soil is traditionally improved by means of liming, draining, and allowing to lie fallow. It
is traditionally fertilised with manure, nitrogen, phosphates, and potash.
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Manure, nitrogen and Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ)
170 million tonnes of animal excreta ("slurry") is produced annually in the UK. This
slurry can pollute watercourses, draining them of oxygen, can contain pathogenic
microorganisms such as salmonella, and creates an odour that causes complaints if
stored near people. Pigs and poultry in particular, which tend to be produced
intensively on large holdings with a relatively small land area per animal, create
manure that tends to be processed. This is done either by removing the liquid
component and transporting it away, or by composting it, or more recently,
by anaerobic digestion to produce methane which is later converted to electricity. In
2011, an increase in the feed-in tariff for small-scale biogas production from
anaerobic digestion made this last option more economic.
Farmyard manure is among the best all-round soil fertilisers. Urine contains about
half the nitrogen and most of the potash that an animal voids, but tends to drain
away, making it both the richest and the most easily lost element of manure. Dung
contains the other half of the nitrogen and most of the phosphoric acid and lime. With
dung, much of the nitrogen is lost in storage or locked up in slowly released forms,
so greater quantities are necessary compared to artificial fertilisers. Manure is most
effective when ploughed into the fields while it is still fresh, but this is not practical
while crops are growing and in practice, most manure is stored and then applied in
winter, or else added in ridges for root crops.
Leguminous plants such as peas, beans or lucerne live in a symbiotic relationship
with certain bacteria that produce nodules on their roots. The bacteria extract
nitrogen from the air and convert it to nitrogenating compounds that benefit the
legume. When the legume dies, or is harvested, its rotting roots nitrogenate the soil.
Nitrogen stimulates plant growth, but overapplication softens the plant tissues,
makes them more vulnerable to pests and disease, and reduces resistance to frost.
It may be added by nitrogen-fixing crops, but many farmers prefer artificial fertilisers,
which are quicker. The negative side-effects of adding nitrogen are mitigated by
phosphates.
Nitrogen from soil gets into the water, and can be hazardous to human health. EC
Directive 80/778/EEC and 91/676/EEC both mention a ceiling acceptable level of
nitrates of 50 mg/litre, which is also the level recommended by the World Health
Organisation. In several places in Britain, particularly in the midlands and the southeast, nitrate concentrations occasionally exceed this level and the government has
brought in regulations to control nitrate levels in the water. The regulations governing
designated Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) aim to protect ground and surface water
from contamination with nitrates and manure. The Nitrates Directive was reviewed
and expanded in 2008, and with the 2008 expansion, from 1 January 2009 around
68% of English farmland, 14% of Scottish farmland and 4% of Welsh farmland is
within a NVZ. The NVZ rules control at what time of year farmers may apply nitrogen
or manure to the land and oblige them to keep strict records of nitrogen-containing
substances used. They also regulate slurry and manure storage.
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Phosphates and potash
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Phosphates are substances that contain phosphorus, which stimulates root
development in young plants and is therefore particularly valuable for root crops. It
also increases yields and speeds up plant growth generally. Phosphates are not
easily lost from soil, but they mostly occur in very stable forms that are not liberated
quickly enough by natural processes, so fertilisation is necessary. Traditionally,
phosphate-bearing materials added to soil include bone meal, powdered slag, and
seaweed.
Potashes are substances that contain potassium which promotes disease resistance
and helps to build starches and sugars. Plants tend to absorb potash during early
stages of growth, and potash tends to reduce the problems caused by applying
nitrogen. It also increases the weight of an individual cereal grain. Traditional potash
sources included applying ash to the land and ploughing in crop residues after the
harvest. Artificial potash fertilisers were not used until deposits of potash salts were
discovered in Germany in 1861.
Arable farming
Main articles: Agronomy and Vegetable farming
Arable farming is the production of crops. Crop growth is affected by light, soil,
nutrients, water, air, and climate. Crops commonly grown in the United Kingdom
include cereals, chiefly wheat, oats and barley; root vegetables, chiefly potatoes and
sugar beet; pulse crops such as beans or peas; forage crops such as cabbages,
vetches, rape and kale; fruit, particularly apples and pears; and hay for animal feed.
From 1992 until 2004, or 2006 for organic farms, there were subsidies for not
growing any crops at all. This was called set-aside and resulted from EEC farming
policies. From 2007 onwards, set aside subsidies in the UK were withdrawn.
Seeds may be sown in spring, summer or autumn. Spring-sown crops are vulnerable
to drought in May or June. Autumn sowing is usually restricted to frost-hardy types of
bean, vetch, or cereal such as winter wheat. Traditional sowing techniques include
broadcasting, dibbling, drilling, and ploughing in. Drilling is normally the most
economical technique where conditions are dry enough.
In 2009, 3,133,000 hectares (7,740,000 acres) of cereal crops were sown in the UK.
There were 581,000 hectares (1,440,000 acres) of oil seed rape, 233,000 hectares
(580,000 acres) of peas and beans, 149,000 hectares (370,000 acres) of potatoes,
and 116,000 hectares (290,000 acres) of sugar beet. Winter crops tend to be planted
around mid-September, and spring crops as soon as the soil is ready. Each year the
country produces about 6.5 million tonnes of barley, of which 1.5 million are
exported, 2 million used in brewing and distilling activities and the remainder fed to
livestock. The country also produces 14 to 15 million tons of wheat each year, of
which farmers kept 3.9 million tonnes as stock in February 2012. In 2008, 750,000
tonnes of oats were produced, in 2011-2012 613,000.
During 1999-2003 production of barley ranged from 6,128,000 - 7,456,000, wheat
from 11,580,000 to 16,704,000 and oats from 491,000 to 753,000.
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Consumption
Consumption of oats by the human population compared with livestock is
proportionally higher in the UK than in European countries, 455,000 tonnes as
forecast by farm officials during 2012; with 163,000 tonnes fed to livestock during
2011-2012.[83]
From 2002-2003, of the cereals grown, 31% of barley, 36% of oats and 34% of
wheat were used for human consumption.
Methods
Ploughing is not always regarded as essential nowadays, but the plough can
improve soil by inverting it to improve soil aeration and drainage, release plant food
through weathering, and expose harmful pests to predators. It is also an effective
method of weed control. Ploughing depth in Britain varies between 5–6 inches in
some limestone regions to up to 18 inches in deep stone less silt land. Most British
ploughs are designed to turn a furrow of up to about a foot deep, which is relatively
shallow compared to some other countries, where furrows of up to 16 inches are
common. Other machines used to prepare land include cultivators (to break up land
too heavy for a normal plough), harrows (to level the surface of ploughed
land), rolls or rollers (used for firming the soil), sprayers and dusters (used to spread
herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and fertilisers).]
Reaping is the process of harvesting a crop. Traditionally reaping was done with the
scythe and reaping hook, but in Britain these have been entirely superseded by
machinery. Combine harvesters, so called because they both harvest and thresh the
crop, are common. Other machines used include mowers, reapers, binders,
harvesters, pea cutters and flax pullers. Once reaped, some crops are brought
directly to market. Others need to be threshed to separate the cash crop from the
straw and chaff. Wheat, oats, barley, beans and some kinds of small seed (e.g.
clover) typically need to be threshed.
Since the Second World War, scientific and technical progress and the removal of
tenancy-based restrictions on choice of crop have given British arable farmers a
great deal more freedom to plan cropping sequences. Strict crop rotation is no longer
technically necessary or even financially desirable. Factors that influence crop
sequences include the soil type, weather, the price and availability of labour and
power, market outlets, and technical considerations about maintaining soil fertility
and crop health. For example, some vigorous crops such as kale or arable silage
will, when liberally fertilised, tend to outgrow and smother weeds. Many pests and
diseases are crop-specific and the more often a particular crop is taken, the greater
the build-up of pests and diseases that attack it. The farmer will therefore try to
design a sequence to sustain high yields, permit adequate weed control, service
market needs, and keep the soil free from diseases and pests.
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Diseases
Most diseases of crop plants result from fungus spores that may live in the soil and
enter through roots, be airborne and enter the plant through damaged areas or
landing on leaf surfaces, or are spread by pests. These spores tend to affect
photosynthesis and reduce chlorophyll. They often make plants look yellow and
affect growth and marketability of the crop. They are most commonly treated with
fungicides, and may be called mildews, rusts, blotches, scabs, wilts, rots or blights.
European Union regulations on pesticides are changing, and several important
pesticides currently in use will no longer be available. This has potentially quite
serious implications for British agriculture.
Two of the most serious diseases currently affecting crop plants are colony collapse
disorder (CCD), a somewhat mysterious effect that is wiping out honeybee colonies
worldwide, and varroa destructor, a parasitic mite that also affects honeybees and
may be a contributor to CCD. Honeybees pollinate 80% of plants worldwide. In 2007,
up to 80% of the bee colonies in some areas were wiped out. Honeybees pollinate
crops worth about £200 million a year, and their total contribution to the economy
may be as high as £1 billion.
Weeds
Historically weed control was by hand-pulling of weeds, often during "fallowing"
(which means leaving the land to carry no crop for a season, during which time the
weeds can be found and removed). In 1896, it was found that a copper
sulphate solution would kill broad-leaved weeds without seriously damaging young
cereal plants. Other chemical weed killers were soon discovered and now common
chemical weed killer ingredients include sodium chlorate, copper chloride, sulphuric
acid, dinitroorthocresol and dinitrobutylphenol. Hormone-based weed killers are used
to kill weeds more selectively. Although most weeds are vulnerable to at least one of
these substances, eradicating all the weeds from a particular area will usually need
several different weed killers. The use of pesticides has declined, and British farmers
now use about a third less pesticides than they did in 1983. The crop needing most
pesticides is wheat.
PestsA pest is an animal that eats or spoils food meant for humans. Pests damage
crops by removing leaf area, severing roots, or simply gross damage. In the UK, they
comprise invertebrates (chiefly nematodes, slugs and insects or insect larvae),
mammals (particularly rabbits) and birds (mainly members of the pigeon family). The
damage caused by crop pests is considerable. For example, potato cyst nematodes
cause over £50 million damage a year in the UK.
Pastoral farming is the breeding of livestock for meat, wool, eggs and milk, and
historically (in the UK) for labour. Livestock products are the main element of the
UK's agricultural output. The most common meat animals in the United Kingdom are
cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry. Overwhelmingly, British wool comes from sheep, with
only a few goats or alpacas bred for exotic wools such as cashmere or angora. The
vast majority of milk comes from cattle, and eggs from chickens.
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Most British farm animals are bred for a particular purpose, so for example, there is a
sharp division between cattle bred for the beef trade—early-maturing cattle are best
to increase yield, and those that store fat marbled within the muscle rather than as
layers outside are preferred for the flavour—and those bred for dairy, where animals
with a high milk yield are strongly preferred. Nevertheless, because dairy cattle must
calve to produce milk, much of the British beef output is from surplus dairy herd
calves.
Cattle farming
There are about 17,000 dairy farms in the UK, largely in the west. Average herd size
is 86 cows in England, 75 in Wales and 102 in Scotland. Most cows are milked twice
a day, and an average dairy cow yields 6,300 litres a year. The most important dairy
cattle breed is the ubiquitous British Friesian, which has largely replaced the Dairy
Shorthorn in British dairy herds thanks both to its high milk yield and the relatively
high quality of the beef it produces.
The UK once produced roughly as much beef as it ate, but this changed in 1996
because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The BSE crisis led to
regulations preventing animals more than 30 months old from entering the food
chain, which meant cull cows could no longer be sold for beef. Just under 6 million
cattle over this age were destroyed. A Calf Purchase Aid Scheme, under which a
further nearly 2 million calves were slaughtered, ended in 1999. In 2002, the UK
produced 72% of the beef it ate. Important beef cattle breeds include the Hereford,
which is the most popular British beef breed, and the Aberdeen Angus. The oncewidespread Beef Shorthorn is now a relatively uncommon sight.
Cows require significant areas of grassland to raise. Dairy cows need 0.4 to
0.5 hectares per cow, including the area needed for winter silage; suckler beef cows
can need up to a whole hectare each. The UK produces very little veal, and UK law
requires that animals are kept in daylight in groups with bedding and access to hay,
silage or straw. This produces "pink" veal which grows more slowly and is less
desirable to the continental customer.
Sheep farming
Over 41,000 farms in the UK produce sheep, but more than half of breeding ewes
are on hill or upland farms suitable for little else. National Parks and heather moors
such as the Lake District, the Pennines and Snowdonia in Wales are dominated by
sheep farms, as are the Scottish Highlands. In the lowlands, pockets of sheep farms
remain. Romney Marsh (which gave its name to the Romney sheep) and The
Downs in Kent are famous for their sheep.[106] Sheep farming in Wales encompasses
both upland and lowland areas.
The number of sheep farmed in the UK peaked in 1998 at 20.3 million, as a result of
the Sheep Meat Regime, a relatively generous EU support initiative first begun in
1980. Numbers declined following the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth, and the UK
temporarily lost its place as Europe's largest producer of lamb, although this was
recovered later. (Although it is Europe's largest producer, the UK is nevertheless a
net importer of lamb, often from New Zealand.)
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Nowadays many ewes are housed indoors for lambing, which costs more but
facilitates earlier lambing with lower mortality and replacement rates. It also rests
and protects the grassland, leading to better early growth and higher stocking rates.
Sheep are also important in helping to manage the landscape. Their trampling
hinders bracken spread and prevents heather moor from reverting to scrub
woodland. Wool production is no longer important in the UK, and nowadays, sheared
fleeces are often treated as a waste product.
Pig farming
About 4,600 farms produce pigs, and the UK is 90% self-sufficient in pork, but only
about 40% self-sufficient in bacon and ham, which reflects a traditional British
preference for these cuts. Nowadays many pig farms in the UK breed intensivelyfarmed hybrids of types like the Large White, British Landrace, Welsh or British
Saddleback, and formerly-popular breeds like the Cumberland and Small White are
extinct. Wild boar are sometimes farmed. They are presently covered under
the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 and farmers need permission from their local
authority to keep them.
The UK pig herd is declining, and there are now some individual pig farms in the US
that have more sows than there are in the UK as a whole. Pigs often used to be kept
indoors throughout their lives, but welfare concerns and increased costs have led to
more outdoor units, and by 2002 30% of sows were outdoors. In many countries
sows are kept tethered in individual stalls, but this system was banned in the UK in
1999 on animal welfare grounds. Indoor sows are housed in groups. Each sow
produces an average of 24 piglets a year and will be pregnant or lactating for 340
days a year. This intensive production wears the sows out and about 40% of them
need to be replaced each year.
A major by-product of pig production is slurry. One sow and her piglets can produce
ten tonnes of slurry a year. Because regulations limit how much slurry can be loaded
onto a given area of land, this means that each sow with her progeny will manure at
least 0.8 hectares. This is a problem because pig manure is mildly toxic, owing to the
use of copper as a growth enhancer.
Other livestock
The UK has about 73,000 goats, mostly as milk producers; this number is relatively
small by EU standards. Venison production in the UK is mainly from red deer, with a
few fallow deer as well, but there are only about 300 venison-producing farms. As
noted above, there are about 26,500 farms with chickens. However, more than half
the UK's eggs come from fewer than 400 flocks, mostly with more than 50,000 birds
each. Other livestock farmed on a smaller scale includes game
birds, ducks, geese, turkeys, ostriches, rabbits and hares.
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Livestock movement and record-keeping [
Farmers wanting to move their livestock outside their own farms must obey the
Disease Control (England) Order 2003, the Disease Control (Wales) Order 2003 or
the Disease Control (Interim Measures) (Scotland) Order 2002, as applicable. This
means a farmer needs a licence from the Local Authority to move livestock. There
are also minimum "standstill" periods once livestock has been moved, so for
example, a farmer buying new cattle and moving them onto his farm must then wait
six days before taking other cattle to market. Most livestock must be identified. Each
individual cow must have a "passport" issued by the British Cattle Movement
Service. Other farm animals such as sheep, goats or pigs must have a herd mark.
Disease
Designated notifiable diseases under the Diseases of Animals Act
include anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, fowl pest, bovine
tuberculosis, BSE, scrapie, swine vesicular disease, Aujeszky's disease, bovine
leukaemia virus, rabies and warble fly. Under the Zoonoses Order conditions that
can be transmitted to humans, such as brucellosis or salmonella, must also be
notified.
The United Kingdom suffered outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease
in 1967 and 2001, with a less serious outbreak in 2007. There was also an outbreak
of bluetongue in 2007. The most serious disease to affect British agriculture was
BSE, a cattle brain disease that causes a similar disease in some humans who eat
infected meat. It has killed 166 people in Britain since 1994.
A current issue is the control of bovine tuberculosis, which can also be carried
by badgers. It is alleged that the badgers are infecting the cows. A scientific report
for the government recommended a selective cull of badgers, which immediately met
with opposition from other scientists. The government is currently consulting on this
issue. As of 16 September 2011, a total of 27 online petitions had attracted
Animal welfare legislation affecting UK agriculture includes the Animal Welfare Act
2006, the Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations 2007 and the Welfare of Animals
(Transport) Order 1997. The UK has a good reputation for animal welfare, and there
are several codes of practice.
Animal welfare as an issue is increasingly important to the European Union.
Although welfare-conscious husbandry can have economic benefits to the farmer,
because a happy animal puts on weight more rapidly and will reproduce more easily,
the mere fact that an animal is gaining weight or reproducing does not necessarily
indicate a high level of animal welfare. Generally, there is a tension between the
minimum acceptable level of animal welfare for the consumer, the price of the
product, and an acceptable margin for the farmer. This tension is resolved by food
labelling that enables the consumer to select the price they are prepared to pay for a
given level of animal welfare. So for example, many consumers prefer to buy free
range eggs even where these are more expensive than eggs from battery hens.
Nowadays, there are various welfare assurance schemes in response to consumer
pressure.
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The use of battery cages in now illegal in the European Union, due to the severe
impacts the cages can have on the well-being of hens.
Current issues in British agriculture
Organic farming
Organic farming is farming without chemical fertilisers, most pesticides, genetic
modification, or the routine use of drugs, antibiotics or wormers. In the United
Kingdom, it is supported and encouraged by the Soil Association. The Food
Standards Agency says that organic food offers no additional nutritional benefits over
the non-organic kind, though the Soil Association disputes this. However, there are
definite benefits in terms of on-farm conservation and wildlife. In the UK, as in most
of northern Europe, organic crop yields can be 40%–50% lower than conventional,
more intensive farming and labour use can be 10%–25% higher.
The Organic Aid Scheme came into effect in 1994, providing grants to fund farmers
wishing to convert to organic farming. By the end of 1997 about 30,000 hectares
(74,000 acres) had been converted under the scheme, at a cost of £750,000. In
2000, it increased to 525,000 hectares (1,300,000 acres), and between 1996 and
2000, the number of organic farms increased from 865 to 3500. The global market
for organic food is worth £1.2 billion a year and is increasing. The UK's share of the
European organic farming market is about 10%.
Biofuel
Biofuels are fuels derived from biomass. They can be used in their pure form to
power vehicles, but most commonly they are blended with traditional fuels such as
diesel. In 2003, the European Union saw biofuels as an answer to several
problems: climate change, energy security and stimulating the rural economy, and
agreed the Biofuels Directive to see that production was kickstarted. In 2008,
the Gallagher Review expressed concern about the effects of the biofuels initiative
and identified the conversion of agricultural land to biofuels production as a factor in
rising food prices. The current recommended option is that farmers should use
marginal or waste land to produce biofuels and maintain production of food on prime
agricultural land.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation ("RTFO") obliges fuel suppliers to see that
a certain proportion of the fuel they sell comes from renewable sources. The target
for 2009/10 is 3.25% by volume. This presents a potentially useful source of revenue
for some farmers.
Biofuel crops grown in the UK include oilseed rape (which is also grown for other
purposes), short-rotation coppices such as poplar or willow, and miscanthus.
Unfortunately, biofuels are quite bulky for their energy yield, which means processing
into fuel needs to happen near where the crop is grown; otherwise, most or all of the
benefit of biofuels can be lost in transporting the biofuel to the processing area. Such
local processing units are not generally available in the UK, and further expansion of
this market will depend on politics and industrial finance.
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Diversification
About half of all farmers in the United Kingdom supplement their income through
diversification. On average diversification adds £10,400 to a farm's revenue.
Since time immemorial, sporting rights over farmland for hunting or trapping game,
have had commercial value; nowadays, game shooting, deer stalking and fishing are
important features within the UK economy.[143][144] Fox hunting previously went on,
but has been banned in the United Kingdom since February 2005.
There are a huge number of ways of diversifying. Farmland may, for example, be
converted to equestrian facilities, amenity parkland, country clubs, hotels, golf
courses, camping and caravan sites. Farmers open shops, restaurants and even
pubs to sell their products. The Farm Diversification Benchmarking Study, which was
commissioned by DEFRA and carried out by Exeter University in conjunction with
the University of Plymouth, found that 65% of full-time farming businesses had
diversified, but in the June census of the preceding year (2003), the estimate was
19% of full-time farming businesses. The large discrepancy is probably because the
census data excluded the letting or subletting of buildings. The most common kinds
of diversification are probably letting of barns as warehouses and storage, letting of
former farm labourers' cottages (whether as holiday cottages or on longer leases),
and farm shops. The number of farm shops in the UK increased by more than 50%
between 1999 and 2003.
There is grant funding available for diversification schemes, as well as other
initiatives to improve competitiveness in the farming sector, through the Rural
Development Programme for England. The scheme runs until 2013, is managed
through Defra and has been delivered to date through Regional Development
Agencies. Expenditure on the Rural Development Programme for England will
remain around £3.7 billion for the 2007–13 programme period, compared with the
original planned budget of about £3.9 billion.
Custodianship
It was first suggested that farmers could be paid for "producing countryside" in 1969,
but the real beginning of positive agri-environmental policy came with the Agriculture
Act 1986. The Countryside Stewardship Scheme and local equivalents were run by
the Countryside Commission and the Countryside Council for Wales from 1991 until
1996, when they came under ministry control. Nowadays schemes to encourage
farmers to think about wildlife conservation and to farm in an environmentally friendly
way abound, though actual payments to farmers to support this are comparatively
modest.
When EU subsidy regime changes in 2013, farmers will receive a greater proportion
of their payments from "management of natural resources and climate action." This
forms one of the three "principal objectives" of the reformed Common Agricultural
Policy which is under consultation until March 2012.
Barriers to entry
In the 1930s land with vacant possession cost an average of £60 per hectare. In
1996, it cost £8,795 per hectare. In the same period retail prices rose by a factor of
35, but agricultural land prices rose by a factor of well over 100. The most extreme
change was in 1972, during which year the price per acre more than doubled. Today
farming land remains scarce and much in demand, and the market is still rising even
in the current recession. Thus, the only option for someone who lacks capital for land
purchase but wants to farm is to rent land as a tenant farmer. Rents increased by
24% in the year to 25 March 2011. The average across all farms in England, Wales
and Scotland is now £70/acre, up from £57/acre; dairy farms cost £80 per acre on
average, and arable farms now cost £99 per acre.
Historically tenant farmers, as peasants or villeins, had been exploited and starting in
1875, successive governments enacted legislation to protect them. This trend
culminated in the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, [Notes 4] which consolidated and built
on a century-long trend in the law. This Act was so onerous towards landlords that
they were reluctant to let land. It became so hard to obtain a tenancy that the farming
industry supported reform, which was enacted in the Agricultural Tenancies Act
1995. Nowadays most new tenancies in England and Wales are Farm Business
Tenancies under the 1995 Act, but the 1986 Act tenancies that are still in force may
allow for succession, and can sometimes be passed down through up to two
generations of tenant. The most common route of entry into farming is to succeed to
a holding, whether as owner or tenant, so a person's ability to farm is often
determined by their family background rather than their skills or qualifications.
County farms
Local government authorities have powers under the Smallholdings and Allotments
Act to buy and rent land to people who want to become farmers.[159] Fifty County
Councils and Unitary Authorities in England and Wales offer tenancies
on smallholdings (called "County Farms") as an entry route into agriculture, but this
provision is shrinking. Between 1984 and 2006, the amount of land available as
County Farms shrank from 137,664 hectares (340,180 acres) to 96,206 hectares
(237,730 acres), a reduction of 30%. The number of tenants on these smallholdings
shrank by 58% in the same period to about 2,900. County Farms yielded an
operational surplus of £10.6 million to local authorities in the financial year 2008–9.
Some local authorities dispose of County Farms to obtain capital receipts. Somerset
County Council proposes to sell 35 of its 62 County Farms.
As of March 2009, 39% of County Farms were of 50 acres (20 ha) or smaller, 31% of
50 acres (20 ha) to 100 acres (40 ha), and 30% of 100 acres (40 ha) or more.[
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