Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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New Chapter added to Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2006 Report

New Chapter added to Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2006 Report

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (99/07) issued by The Government News Network on 29 March 2007

Following concerns about the impact on agriculture of crude oil price increases, a new chapter entitled Intermediate consumption has been added to our annual report into UK agriculture.

The chapter presents long-term trends in crude oil prices and intermediate consumption e.g. fuels, feed, seeds etc and demonstrates how key inputs, such as fuels, electricity and fertiliser are closely linked to the oil price.

Our report Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2006, is the most authoritative statistical release on agriculture produced by Government, provides a statistical overview of important developments in agriculture in the United Kingdom.

Other report contents include information on farming income, farm structure, prices, crop and animal production, costs, the food chain, overseas trade and other agricultural issues.
Headline statistics for 2006 include:

* Total Income from Farming rose by 7 per cent in real terms to £2.7 billion;

* agriculture contributed £5.6 billion to the national economy;

* the area of agricultural land was 19 million hectares, about 77 per cent of the total land area in the United Kingdom;

* the average producer price of agricultural products rose by 4 per cent while the average price of agricultural inputs rose by 3.5 per cent;

* in real terms, average net farm income for all types of farm in the United Kingdom is expected to be around £20,600 in 2006/07, about 20 per cent higher than 2005/06;

* productivity rose by 2 per cent as the volume of final output fell by 1 per cent and the volume of all inputs fell by 3 per cent.

* the area of land being managed under agri-environment schemes has increased to over 7,500 million hectares and the number of agreements to over 85,000.

A pocketbook, Agricultural Statistics in your Pocket 2006, which complements Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2006 is also published today. This is free and may be obtained from the Agriculture in the United Kingdom team on 01904 455407 or keith.seabridge@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Notes to editors
Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2006 is the nineteenth in an annual series. It is available (ISBN 978-0-11243095-7) from The Stationery Office (TSO), telephone 0870 600 5522, price £25, and is also available on the internet at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/publications/auk/default.asp.
A statistical notice (http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/statnot/account.pdf) provided a summary of the provisional estimates of incomes, output and productivity of UK agriculture set out in this publication.

Following the publication of Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2006 a seminar will be held in York on 9 May 2007 to discuss current and future prospects of the farming industry. Further details are available from Keith Seabridge at keith.seabridge@defra.gsi.gov.uk or David Peacock on +44 (0) 1904 455407.


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