§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will bring up to date the information on farm rents given in the written reply to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby of 5 March 1982, Official Report, column 269; and if he will add figures for land prices.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonThe following table shows the average farm rents in England over the period 1961 to 1986 and average prices for agricultural land over the period 1961 to 1985, the latest years for which information is available.
Year Farm Rents Average Land Prices1 £/per hectare Index (1975 = 100) £/per hectare Index (1975 = 100) 1961 6.37 31.44 265 23.56 1962 7.13 35.19 286 25.42 1963 7.86 38.80 329 29.24 1964 8.40 41.86 437 38.84 1965 8.90 43.93 440 39.11 1966 9.52 46.99 454 40.36 1967 10.29 50.79 486 43.20 1968 11.14 54.99 517 45.96 1969 11.97 59.08 525 46.67 1970 13.07 64.51 501 44.53 1971 14.27 70.43 571 50.76 1972 15.17 74.88 1,161 103.20 1973 16.13 79.62 1,557 138.40 1974 17.49 86.33 1,273 113.16 1975 20.26 100.00 1,125 100.00 1976 24.66 121.72 1,349 119.91 1977 29.80 147.09 1,909 169.69 1978 35.60 175.72 2,434 216.36 1979 42.13 207.95 3,129 278.13 1980 50.01 246.84 3,316 294.76 1981 58.36 288.06 3,283 291.82 1982 66.14 326.46 3,535 314.22 1983 73.93 364.91 3,631 322.76 1984 81.27 401.14 3,788 336.71 1985 88.01 434.40 3,654 324.80 1986 295.75 2472.61 1 All sales—vacant possession and tenanted. 2 Provisional.