page_title: Economy of Cornwall
section_title: Agriculture and food
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Cornwall / Industry / Agriculture and food
caption_attribution_description: English: Ashton, Cornwall Some very fine looking soil here.
context_page_description: The economy of Cornwall in South West England, is largely dependent upon agriculture followed by tourism. Cornwall is one of the poorest areas in the United Kingdom with a GVA of 70.9% of the national average in 2015. and is one of four UK areas that qualifies for poverty-related grants from the EU. Farming and food processing contributed £366 million to the county, equal to 5.3% of Cornwall’s total GVA. The agricultural/food industry in Cornwall employs 9,500 people, 23,700 are employed in the food industry in Cornwall The Cornish economy also depends heavily on its successful tourist industry which contributes 12% of Cornwall's GDP and supports about 1 in 5 jobs. Tourism contributed £1.85 billion to the Cornish economy in 2011.
context_section_description: The expansion of the railway system in the 19th century led to the export of vegetable products, including flowers, becoming a profitable business for Cornwall. The Revd. Canon Arthur Townshend Boscawen (1862-1939), rector of Ludgvan from 1893 to 1939, was instrumental in founding the Cornish anemone industry. He also introduced broccoli as a commercial crop from imported German seed. The wet climate and relatively poor soil of Cornwall make it unsuitable for growing many arable crops, but the conditions are ideal for growing the rich grass required for dairying, leading to the production of Cornwall's other famous export, clotted cream. Though it has declined significantly agriculture is still of economic importance.
  Ginsters in Callington is a mass manufacturer of Cornish pasties. Dairy Crest has a large cheese factory at Davidstow and A. E. Rodda of Scorrier is a supplier of clotted cream. Furniss of Truro manufactures biscuits. There are many types of beer brewed in Cornwall, including Sharp's Brewery, Skinner's Brewery and St Austell Brewery. There is some small scale production of wine, mead and cider.
  Flower farming was a profitable industry on the Isles of Scilly for most of the 20th century. In a 1987 study of the Scillonian economy, S. Neate found that many farms on the islands were struggling to remain profitable due to increasing costs and strong competition from overseas producers, with resulting diversification into tourism. Recent statistics suggest that agriculture on the islands now represents less than 2 percent of all employment. Flower farming was also carried on in parts of west Cornwall but has declined due to increasing costs and strong competition from overseas producers.
caption: Farmland at Ashton, Breage
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix A700", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix A700    Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:06:11 12:36:46", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "326", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "902", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5329", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:06:06 10:48:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:06:06 10:48:08", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "193/20", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "773/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "480", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3001", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3001", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}