The aim of this paper is to support a Westminster Hall debate on 23 February 2022 on food and farming in Devon and Cornwall. The statistics are not usually produced for Devon and Cornwall separately, as such, this paper primarily focuses on the statistics for South West England in comparison with the rest of England. The statistics provided accompany the policy paper on Farm Funding and the legislation Agriculture Act 2020.
Farming
Land: In 2019, a quarter of England’s agricultural holdings (26,123) and almost a fifth of England’s total farmed area (1.79 million hectares) was in the South West. The average farm size was 68 hectares in the South West, which was 22% smaller than the England average of 87 hectares.
Crops: In the South West, wheat was farmed on 161 thousand hectares and barley was farmed on 130 thousand hectares in 2019. Hardy nursery stock was framed on 4 thousand hectares, accounting for 40% of the England total. Whilst Maize was farmed on 64 thousand hectares, accounting for almost a third of the England total.
Livestock: Of the England total in 2019, the South West had 33% of cattle (1.7 million), 33% of goats (30,000), 21% of sheep (3,159,000), 15% of poultry (20.2 million) and 11% of pigs (449,000).
Labour: The total agricultural labour in the South West in 2019 was 64,610, this is 21% of the England total. On average, there were 2.5 people per farm, this is below the England average of 2.9 people per farm. 46% of people were full time, 43% part time and 8% casual.
Farm Business Income (FBI): In the South West, the average FBI was £34,100 for all types of farms in 2019/20/ This was 26% lower than the average England FBI of £46,000. However, the South West FBI for dairy farms was £104,100, which was 23% higher than the England FBI of £84,800
Total Income from Farming (TIFF): In 2020, TIFF for England was £3,552 million. The South West made the biggest contribution to England TIFF with £682 million (19.2%). The average TIFF per hectare of farmed land in England in 2020 was £389. The South West was slightly below this average at £381 TIFF per hectare.
Farm Funding: In 2020, Direct Payments accounted for 63% of TIFF in the South West.
Food
Turnover: In 2019, there were 1,105 food manufacturing enterprises in South West England (13% of the England total). The food manufacturing turnover in 2019 was £4 billion, which was 5% of the England total of £85 billion.
Employment: In 2019, 24,312 people were in food manufacturing employment in South West England. This was 7% of the England total.
Gross Value Added (GVA): The gross value added (GVA) for food manufacture for the South West was £1.7 billion in 2018. This is 9% of the GVA for England (£19.3 billion). Between 2010 and 2019, the GVA for the South West increased by 16%. Over the same time period, the England GVA increased by 10%.
Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB)
Bovine Tuberculosis: The South West England is a High Risk Area (HRA) for bovine tuberculosis.