HC Deb 24 November 1958 vol 596 c9W
68. Mr. Hayman

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many agricultural holdings under 20 acres and over 20 acres, respectively, are farmed by part-time farmers.

Mr. Godber

The Agricultural Returns do not show whether the occupier is engaged part-time or full-time on the holding. A sample of these returns for England and Wales has however, been specially examined with reference to average labour requirements which is the nearest we can get to such an analysis. From this examination it is estimated that there are about 136,000 separate holdings with less than 20 acres of crops and grass on which the average labour requirement for the cropping and stocking adds up to less than 250 standard man-days, and most of these are almost certainly part-time holdings. There are about 13,000 of such holdings over 20 acres.