§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was(a) the cash income and (b) the real income of Northern Ireland farmers, divided into the main farm sectors, for the longest available series of years since 1964, with the numbers of farm businesses in each of those years, the number of (i) farmers, (ii) full-time farm workers, and (iii) farm family workers, giving the total
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Table 1 Total Income from Farming, Income per Farm Business and Annual Wage per Full-time Male Worker (20 years and over) in Current Terms and in Real Terms in Index Number Form, 1970–1993 Total income from farming Number of farm businesses3 Income perform business Annual wage per full-time hired male (20+) Total income from farming: real terms index 1993=100 Income perform business: real terms index 1993=100 Annual wage per full-time hired male 20+: real terms index 1993=100 (£ million) (£) (£) 1970 45.52 37,079 1,228 728 126.37 98.07 66.40 1971 46.85 36,190 1,294 829 119.23 94.80 69.34 1972 50.61 35,230 1,436 889 120.43 98.35 69.48 1973 61.62 35,207 1,750 1,068 133.63 109.22 76.09 1974 42.41 34,700 1,222 1,449 79.70 65.09 89.48 1975 46.00 33,641 1,368 1,914 69.38 59.35 94.01 1976 56.34 32,529 2,033 2,147 85.92 75.77 91.32 1977 89.32 32,352 2,761 2,381 99.80 88.77 87.30 1978 87.87 31,715 2,771 2,581 90.72 82.31 87.52 1979 58.51 31,075 1,883 2,988 53.20 49.27 89.26 1980 51.57 30,284 1,703 3,596 39.79 37.81 94.14 19811 112.54 33,740 3,335 3,869 77.53 66.12 87.57 1982 130.52 33,665 3,877 4,165 82.90 70.86 86.91 19832 122.75 33,373 3,678 4,597 74.48 64.22 91.64 1984 160.14 32,814 4,880 4,815 92.57 81.18 91.46 1985 118.92 32,426 3,660 5,186 64.76 57.47 92.77 1986 100.66 31,951 3,150 5,560 53.01 47.72 96.18 1987 154.22 31,203 4,943 5,734 78.07 71.99 95.35 1988 187.11 30,843 6,066 6,141 90.23 84.18 97.28 1989 215.13 30,289 7,103 6,585 96.27 91.46 96.81 1990 162.40 29,850 5,441 5,992 66.35 63.96 93.85 1991 197.87 29,363 6,739 7,779 76.41 74.88 98.69 1992 229.67 29,096 7,893 7,978 85.45 84.51 97.51 19934 272.86 28,775 9,483 8,306 100.00 100.00 100.00 1 Owing to changes in definition, the numbers of farm businesses in the years before 1981 cannot be compared directly with those from 1981 onwards. 2 Owing to changes in methodology, the estimates of total income from farming in the years before 1983 cannot be compared directly with those from 1983 onwards. 3 The numbers of farm businesses in each of the years 1981 to 1992 refer to all holdings in the main census register which produce agricultural products. The earlier series excludes holdings with insufficient crops or livestock to provide at least 50 standard man-days of agricultural work. 4 Provisional. number of persons employed in farming and the average income of each such person with the latest available year taken as the base year.
§ Mr. AncramAggregate income estimates by main farm sectors are not available. Table 1 provides details of total income from farming in Northern Ireland agriculture as a whole between 1970 and 1993. These data are presented in both current terms and in real terms in index number form.
This table also presents data on the number of farm businesses between 1970 and 1993 and total income from farming divided by the number of businesses to give a measure of the average income per farm—the amount available to reward owners, spouses and family workers for their manual and managerial labour and to provide a return on their own capital invested. Again, the information is presented in current terms and in real terms in index number form.
Also given are estimates of the annual average wage per full-time male hired worker—20 years and over—over the same timespan, in current and real terms.
In table 2, data are presented on the numbers of farmers, partners and directors, full-time hired male workers, regularly employed family workers and the total agricultural labour force—that is, farmers, partners and directors, their spouses, family workers and hired workers —in the years between 1964 and 1993.
Caution should be exercised interpreting these data owing to the breaks in the series indicated in the footnotes to the tables.
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Table 2 Northern Ireland agricultural labour force, 1964–1993 Year Farmers and partners Full-time hired workers All regularly1 employed2 family workers Total agricultural labour force3 1964 42,600 7,300 24,700 100,600 1965 41,900 6,000 23,400 96,200 1966 38,600 6,200 21,500 89,200 1967 38,500 5,700 22,200 86,700 1968 37,600 5,400 21,300 83,200 1969 36,100 5,000 20,800 80,000 1970 36,100 4,700 19,800 78,100 1971 38,700 4,600 17,100 75,700 1972 37,900 4,300 16,200 72,700 1973 37,500 4,300 15,400 71,100 1974 37,300 3,800 14,200 68,900 1975 37,900 3,300 12,400 67,100 1976 37,200 3,200 12,000 67,800 1977 37,200 3,000 11,000 65,800 1978 39,200 2,900 10,000 65,700 1979 38,700 3,100 9,600 64,700 1980 38,500 2,800 9,400 63,500 1981 36,900 2,700 8,800 60,700 1982 36,800 2,400 8,500 60,300 1983 36,800 2,500 8,300 60,800 1984 36,600 2,300 8,200 60,500 1985 36,100 2,200 8,100 60,600 1986 35,900 2,100 7,800 60,000 1987 35,400 2,100 7,500 59,400 1988 35,700 2,100 7,200 59,500 1989 35,000 2,000 7,400 59,100 1990 34,600 2,100 7,200 58,400 1991 34,300 2,000 6,900 57,200 1992 34,500 1,900 6,700 56,500 1993 32,400 1,900 6,000 56,500 1Numbers of regularly employed family workers include those working full-time and part-time but exclude farmers' wives. The 1993 figure excludes the husbands of female farmers (previously included as family workers). 2Prior to 1975, figures for seasonal and casual workers were not collected separately and would have been included with part-time family and part-time hired workers. 3The total agricultural labour force includes fanners and partners, regularly employed family workers (both full-time and part-time), regularly employed hired workers (both full-time and part-time), casual and seasonal workers and farmers' spouses.