Some Explorations in the Analysis of Long‐term Changes in the Structure of Agriculture

Abstract

Sue structureThe changing farm size-structure of British agriculture has been analysed in several studies, showing that there has been a continuing reduction in the number * The assistance of Mr. A. C. Jeffery, of Wye College, in the preparation of this table is gratefully acknowledged.

Some Features of Farm Income and Structure Variations in Regions of the United Kingdom

“…Larger Cropping farms in 1977/78 and those of over 1200 smd in the earlier period apparently contributed less per unit-size to their owners than farm businesses of 600 to 1199 smd. These results reflect the findings of Lund and Hill (1979) and of Britton andHill (1975, 1978) which showed that farms of under 600 smd were inefficient in the use of labour (particularly that of the farmer). Although Lund and Hill (1979) found some evidence of a continuing increase in farm performance ratios through to about the 1800 smd size and a hint of decline at the very top end of the size range, in more recent years there are suggestions that the advantages of large farms may not be so great.…”

“…Throughout the 1970's there has been increasing specialisation in farm production, as demonstrated by Britton (1977); this trend has been most marked among small and medium-sized businesses. While it would have been of interest to compare the distribution of farm businesses throughout the United Kingdom prior to EC entry in terms of the new typology used in preparing Annex Table 1, the only reasonably consistent data for exploring the evolution of farm business structure are the national classifications based on standard man dayst.…”

“…Reviewing the dilemma of evolving a rational CAP product price policy and the pursuit of income objectives for the agricultural population, Britton (1981) concluded that 'price and market management policy should not attempt to cater for the needs of those farmers who command an inadequate resource base' and suggested that 'efforts should be directed to rural, social and economic development policies which d o cater explicitly for those needs but are entirely separate from agricultural policy as such'. Marsh and MacLaren (op.…”

Multiple succession and land division on family farms in the South East of England: A counterbalance to agricultural concentration?

“…With this in mind, it is possible to imagine that the trend of agricultural expansion on individual farms is unidirectional. This perception of continually increasing farm size is facilitated by the lack of information concerning land area changes on individual farms, with the majority of studies (mostly conducted as an economic analysis) employing average farm size statistics to describe changes in farm area (Britton, 1977;Lund and Price, 1998). As observed earlier, perhaps the most easily accessible source of information on farm size in the UK is the June Agricultural Census.…”

“…In particular, data sources in the UK such as the June Agricultural Censusprobably the most commonly employed data source to investigate farm size change (e.g. Britton, 1977;Lund and Price, 1998)-come with three fundamental problems. First, and most importantly, June Census figures are not released at a sufficiently detailed level to enable researchers to track the development of individual farms, but rather provide an average measure of the holding size for any particular region.…”