Vol. 514 No. 3
127 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of full-time farmers on 31 December 1989 and on 31 December 1999 or on the nearest census to those dates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3910/00]
There is not a standard definition of full-time farmers.
The CSO provides data relating to labour input on farms. In its 1999 estimate of agricultural labour input it estimated that a total of 91,300 farmers worked the equivalent of one annual work unit, that is a minimum of 1,800 hours per annum. In the census of agriculture of 1991 the corresponding figure for number of farmers working one annual work unit was 116,635.
