HC Deb 13 November 2003 vol 413 c410W
Mr. Flook

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers there were in dairy farming in each year since 1992, broken down by(a) conventional and (b) organic farming. [137381]

Mr. Morley

Data for the total number of farmers, partners, directors and spouses combined are collected annually from the June agricultural and horticultural census as a total. The following figures relate to holdings where dairy is the predominant activity, a breakdown between conventional and organic farming is not available.

Total farmers, partners, directors and spouses (full and part-time) in England on dairy type holdings
Number
Main holdings only
1992 40,464
1993 35,665
1994 39,744
1995 37,844
1996 36,656
1997 35,104
1998 34,405
1999 33,216
Main and minor holdings
2000 31,418
2001 29,732
2002 30,014

Notes

1. Spouses are only included if they are working on the holding.

2. Due to a register improvement exercise in 2001 figures prior to this are not directly comparable with later results.

Source

June Agricultural Census