page_title: Agriculture in the United Kingdom
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Agriculture in the United Kingdom / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Wheat Field Opposite a field of Barley , is a field of wheat.
context_page_description: Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 69% of the country's land area, employs 1.5% of its workforce and contributes 0.6% of its gross value added. The UK produces less than 60% of the food it consumes. Agricultural activity occurs in most rural locations, it is concentrated in East Anglia and the South West. There are 212,000 farm holdings, which vary widely in size.
  Despite skilled farmers, advanced technology, fertile soil and subsidies, farm earnings are relatively low, mainly due to low prices at the farm gate. Low earnings, high land prices and a shortage of let farmland discourage young people from joining the industry. The average age of the British farm holder is now about 60.
  Recently there have been moves towards organic farming in an attempt to sustain profits, and many farmers supplement their income by diversifying activities away from pure agriculture. Biofuels present new opportunities for farmers against a background of rising fears about fossil fuel prices, energy security, and climate change. There is increasing awareness that farmers have an important role to play as custodians of the British countryside and wildlife.
context_section_description: The total area of agricultural holdings is about 23.07 million acres (9.34 million hectares), of which about a third are arable and most of the rest is grassland. During the growing season about half the arable area is cereal crops, and of the cereal crop area, more than 65% is wheat. There are about 31 million sheep, 10 million cattle, 9.6 million poultry and 4.5 million pigs. These are arranged on about 212,000 holdings, whose average cultivable area is around 54 hectares (130 acres). About 70% of farms are owner-occupied or mostly so (perhaps with individual barns or fields let out), and the remainder are rented to tenant farmers. Farmers represent an ageing population, partly due to low earnings and barriers to entry, and it is increasingly hard to recruit young people into farming. The average farm holder is about 60 years old.
  British farming is on the whole intensive and highly mechanised.  This approach is well-suited to the current distribution infrastructure, but can be less productive by area than smaller scale, diversified farming. The UK produces only 59% of the food it consumes.  The vast majority of imports and exports are with other Western European countries.
  Farming is subsidised, with subsidies to farmers totalling more than £3 billion (after deduction of levies). These subsidies are mostly channelled through the EU Common Agricultural Policy from member states' contributions. UK farmers receive the fifth largest agricultural subsidy in the EU, with 7% of the subsidy, after France (17%), Spain (13%), Germany (12%), and Italy (10%). There is downward pressure on the subsidies.
caption: Wheat is a major crop in the UK.
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