Vol. 415 No. 8
376 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give details of (1) the average size of a farm, (a) at present and (b) ten years ago and (2) the type of farming which predominates at present as opposed to ten years ago.
(1) According to the national farm survey, the average farm size in 1990 was 26.4 hectares whereas the average size in 1980 was 21.7 hectares; (2) in terms of the numbers of farms devoted to each farm system, the proportion of farms engaged in the main farming enterprises in 1980 and 1990 was as follows, (ranking in brackets):
|
1980 |
1990 |
|
|
% |
% |
|
|
Drystock |
35.1 (1) |
46.4 (1) |
|
Dairying |
23.2 (2) |
19.5 (2) |
|
Sheep |
6.9 (5) |
15.8 (3) |
|
Dairying-drystock |
13.9 (3) |
11.7 (4) |
|
Drystock-tillage |
10.7 (4) |
3.0 (5) |
