Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of dairy farmers in (a) 1997 and (b) 2009.
Answer
[holding answer 14 January 2010]: Changes in the number of farmers is just one element of the structural changes that have taken place in the sector. The long-term trend in dairy production is towards fewer, larger and more productive herds. The following table provides the fuller picture on the structural changes in the sector and shows how the decline in the number of dairy farms and dairy farmers has been offset by an increase in average herd size and milk yields.The number of principal farmers on dairy holdings is not yet available for 2009. The decrease in the numbers of dairy farmers in England between 1997 and 2008 (-34 per cent.) is less than the fall in the number of holdings with dairy cows between 2008 and 2009 (-48 per cent.). This reflects a rise in the average number of farmers per farm over the period as the average farm size has increased.However, the numbers of dairy cows has decreased by less (-30 per cent.), reflecting a rise in the average herd size, and (at the UK level) milk yields have increased by 22 per cent. over the period, so that total UK milk production has fallen by 8 per cent. between 1997 and 2009.
| Number of dairy farms in England | Number of farmers on dairy holdings in England | Number of dairy cows in England (thousand) | ||||||
| (a) | (b) | (a) | (b) | (a) | (b) | UK milk production (million litres) (c) | Average UK milk yield (litres per cow per year) | |
| 1997 | — | 18,007 | — | 35,104 | — | 1,702 | 14,419 | 5,790 |
| 1998 | — | 17,014 | — | 34,405 | — | 1,660 | 14,213 | 5,775 |
| 1999 | — | 16,313 | — | 33,216 | — | 1,661 | 14,580 | 5,964 |
| 2000 | — | 15,219 | — | 31,418 | — | 1,576 | 14,071 | 5,979 |
| 2001 | — | 14,293 | — | 30,178 | — | 1,490 | 14,284 | 6,346 |
| 2002 | — | 14,537 | — | 30,425 | — | 1,462 | 14,440 | 6,493 |
| 2003 | — | 13,770 | — | 28,918 | — | 1,435 | 14,576 | 6,621 |
| 2004 | — | 13,264 | — | 28,057 | — | 1,374 | 14,127 | 6,763 |
| 2005 | — | 12,918 | — | 26,168 | — | 1,311 | 14,052 | 6,986 |
| 2006 | 11,522 | 11,079 | 22,483 | 25,706 | 1,259 | 1,290 | 13,902 | 6,977 |
| 2007 | 10,907 | — | 21,082 | — | 1,236 | — | 13,619 | 6,913 |
| 2008 | 10,331 | — | 20,122 | — | 1,199 | — | 13,319 | 6,943 |
| 2009 | 9,805 | n/a | n/a | — | 1,163 | — | 13,208 | 7,084 |
| Percentage change between 1997 and 2009 (d) | -48 | -34 | -30 | -8 | 22 | |||
| n/a = Not yet available | ||||||||
| Notes: | ||||||||
| (a) Sourced from the Cattle Tracing System (CTS). Defined as the number of holdings on 1 June each year with more than 10 dairy cows in the milking herd. CTS became the main source of cattle data from 2006 onwards. Results prior to this were sourced from the June Survey of Agriculture but are not directly comparable. | ||||||||
| (b) Sourced from the June Survey of Agriculture. | ||||||||
| (c) Sourced from DEFRA and RPA statistics. | ||||||||
| (d) Allows for the break in series in 2006 with the switch to the CTS. For the number of dairy farmers the change is between 1997 and 2008. |