§ Mr. Nicholas Bennettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was the estimated income of dairy farmers in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in 1978–79, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86 and 1986–87 expressed at 1978 prices.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonThe information requested, expressed in 1978–79 real price terms, is given in the table. I regret that figures for 1986–87 are not yet available.
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£ thousands England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland 1978–79 8.8 7.3 6.4 7.7 1982–83 8.2 6.5 7.4 6.7
England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland 1983–84 4.6 5.2 4.9 5.6 1984–85 4.9 3.7 4.8 5.4 1985–86 6.1 5.6 3.3 3.3 Notes:
(a) Net farm income is defined as the return to the farmer and spouse for their manual and managerial labour and on tenant type capital in livestock, crops, machinery etc., but not on land and buildings. It is calculated before the deduction of interest payments on any farming loans.
(b) The incomes for 1982–83 and subsequent years have been expressed in 1978–79 prices by deflating by the all items retail prices index with 1978–79 = 100.
Source: Farm Business Survey.