§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of agricultural land is currently in food production; how many acres this represents; and if he will make a statement. [39340]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe provisional results for England from the June 1995 agricultural census show an estimated 8,818,000 hectares, of land to be devoted to crop production, involving bare fallow, grassland and rough grazing. This is 90 per cent. of agricultural area. The remaining 10 per cent. 995,000 hectares is accounted for by set-aside scheme land, woodland and all other land on agricultural holdings.
Statistics of previous years are available in "The Digest of Agricultural Census Statistics" which is available in the House of Commons Library.