This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Economic report on Scottish agriculture published
17/05/1999
* The number of occupiers working on Scottish farms last year increased by two per cent to 22,300, while the number of spouses working on farms increased by one per cent to 11,300.
* There were 9,804,000 sheep in Scotland in 1998, the highest number since 1994.
* The total area in Scotland for crops (including fallow and set-aside) increased very slightly to just over 656 thousand hectares.
* Cereals decreased by 8,000 hectares to nearly 469 thousand hectares and the area of oilseed rape increased by 6,000 hectares to 65,000 hectares.
* Set-aside land increased by 3,000 hectares to over 43 thousand hectares, reflecting an increase in the area put into voluntary set aside.
* The Scottish cattle population rose slightly to 2.064 million.
These are some of the statistics contained in the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture 1999 Edition, published today.
The report gives figures from the June 1998 Agricultural Census for main holdings as well as previously unpublished 1998 figures from the Agricultural Census for minor holdings.
It also includes analysis of the Farm Accounts Survey results for 499 farms for the 1996 and 1997 crop years. These show an overall fall in farm incomes in 1997/98 when compared to 1996/97.
The value of gross output (at basic prices) in Scottish farming is expected to have fallen by nearly eight per cent in 1998, as a result of lower prices across all the major commodities (except potatoes and some horticultural crops).
A combination of bad weather and disruption on world markets caused the quantity and value of output to fall. Although prices also dropped for some inputs, this was not enough to prevent a sharp fall in farming incomes, with Total Income From Farming (TIFF) falling by £134 million or 37 per cent compared with 1997.
BACKGROUND
Copies of the Report are available (ISBN number 0 7480 8229 8), price £14.50, from The Stationary Office Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ (Tel: 0131 228 4181).
News Release: 1037/99
17 May 1999