HC Deb 26 May 1976 vol 912 c265W
Mr. Gwynfor Evans

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much land went out of agricultural production in Wales and England, respectively, in the years 1960 to 1976.

Mr. Strang

Land lost each year from agricultural production to other uses, including forestry, is estimated to be as follows, giving the averages of successive five-year periods:

Thousand Acres
Wales England
1960–61 to 1964–65 10.1 44.0
1965–66 to1969–70 11.3 49.5
1969–70 to 1973–74 *12.7 62.9
[...] The most recent five-year period available.

The estimates are based on acreages returned by farmers in the agricultural census at June each year. They have been adjusted to discount changes in the coverage of the census since 1967–68.