§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dairy farms there were in Northern Ireland in each year since 1985.
§ Mr. AncramIn the Northern Ireland agricultural census, until 1992 a farm was classified as a specialist dairying farm if dairying accounted for over two-thirds of386W the farm's total standard gross margin and as a mainly dairying farm if the proportion was between half and two thirds and if dairying was the largest enterprise. The numbers of such farms are given in the table for each year between 1985 and 1992.
Specialist Dairying Mainly Dairying All Dairying 1985 5,605 1,770 7,375 1986 5,465 1,674 7,139 1987 5,334 1,567 6,901 1988 5,079 1,609 6,688 1989 4,897 1,631 6,528 1990 4,733 1,718 6,451 1991 4,553 1,805 6,358 1992 4,319 1,854 6,173 A new system of farm typology was introduced in 1993 and under this 5,124 farms were classified as dairy farms. On that new basis the number of dairy farms in 1992 was 5,235.