§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many agricultural holdings were registered as at 1 January; and of that number how many were classified as smallholdings. [146641]
§ Ms Quin[pursuant to her reply, 23 January 2001, c 515W]: I regret an error has been discovered in the numbers previously provided.
The correct number of agricultural holdings in England registered at 1 January 2001 is:
- Main holdings—151,121
- Minor holdings—31,012.
It should also be noted that there has been an increase of 4,800 holdings on the register since June 2000 largely as a result of the register improvement exercise currently taking place, and the total figures are subject to change.
228WNotes:
A holding is classified as minor if all the following criteria are true:
a. the total area is less than six hectares
b. there is no regular whole-time farmer or worker
c. the estimated annual labour requirement is less than 100 days (of eight hours' productive work by an adult worker under average conditions)
d. the glasshouse area is less than 100 square metres
e. the occupier does not farm another holding.
If any of these conditions is not satisfied, the holding is categorised as "main".