§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the number of(a) dairy farmers and (b) general livestock farmers who will be in business in 2003; and what are the current figures. [33000]
§ Mr. RookerNo. It would not be possible to derive such estimates without making a large number of assumptions. Restructuring of the agriculture industry is a continuous process. Currently, there are about 30,000 agricultural holdings in the United Kingdom classified as dairying and about 90,000 classified as cattle and sheep holdings. These do not include holdings where dairy herds or cattle and sheep are not the main enterprise.