Farming in the UK?

Question

I work in machinery manufacturing in the US. I was just wondering how big the average farm in England was. My parents raised 6 kids on 640 acres in North Dakota. That was back in the 60's and 70's. We had dairy cattle, beef cattle,pigs and chickens. We also raised wheat, flax and sunflowers for sale. Oats, barley, alfalfa and corn for feed.

Also what are the major crops raised there

Answer 1

I see no one has answered your question thus far so I will endevour to put you out of your misery.

In the UK there are approximately 300,000 active farms with an average size of around 57 hectares

The average size of a farm in the England is 50 - 60 Hectares or approximately 123 -148 acres.  

In Scotland it is around 100 hectares (246 acres)

Whilst in Wales it is around 40 hectares (99 acres).

Hope this answers your question

Answer 2

There are farms several times the size you quote, but these are mainly owned by limited companies who run the farm the same way they would run any other type of business. Family farms are much much smaller and are becoming a thing of the past, they cannot keep up with the `big boys` and just can`t make much of a living any more. There are various reasons for this, the first answerer Bobby has already stated some of them. Also, the government and European market regulations have done a good job at nailing down the `farm coffins`. A great pity, for all of us, not just the farmers whose farms have been in the same families for generations. Before the second world war, our farmers fed the nation, now the nation mainly relies on foreign farmers to feed us. It is a bad state of affairs.

Answer 3

If you were thinking of becoming a farmer in the uk dont. Why because everyday farmers are going out of business because retailers refuse to pay farmers a fair price for their produce. If your reading this you can help by buying fresh produce from retailers who commited to fair trade and build relationships with the farming industry.

Answer 4

Curently in the UK according to farming census figures from 2006 there were around 309000 holdings.

Cereal 56500

Oil seed rape 14800

Sugar beet 6500  

Potatoes 10200

Dairy cows 24600

Beef cows 61500

Sheep 79900  

Pig  Holdings 5800

Pig fattening 8600  

Broilers  3100

Layers 37400

The average farm size in the UK is 57 hectares (around 140 acres). Roughly 41000 holdings in the UK farm over 100 hectares.

Farming in the UK follows different methods mainly due to the climate and the lay of the countryside.

In England the avarage farm size is about 50 hectares with a mixture of different production, wheras Scotland's average is over 100 hectares and is mostly sheep, dairy and beef cattle because of the damper, colder, hilly environment, not suitable for growing a vast amount of crops. Wales and Northern Ireland's average is about 40 hectares each.

The UK's biggest export and production is cereals - mainly wheat, barley, Maize and Oil seed rape followed by meat and dairy.

A Lot of farms have a mixture of production but a lot of big farms will just have one product. Dairy and pigs cannot be together on the same farm because of disease. It totally depends on the area of the country farmed as to what the farmer has.

We are primarily a dairy farm. Our farm is an average size for our area - 200 acres and we sell our milk to a local dairy which produces stilton cheese.

With the introduction of the Single Farm Payment in the UK, it makes it better to be a larger landowner and patment received is based on the acreage farmed. Making a profit from a small farm is extremely difficult and in the past few years, many farmers have packed up and a lot of the land is bought by larger farm units increasing the amount of land owned by fewer farmers.