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
02/06/2003
The latest edition of the Economic Report on Scottish
Agriculture is published today.
The report - which is published annually and gives
figures from the June and December 2002 Agricultural
Censuses, results of the Aggregated Agricutural Account
2002 and Farm Accounts Survey 2001/2 - gathers together
information already published in other documents.
Data from the June census include farms classified as
both main and minor holdings. The figures for the December
survey relate to main holdings only.
The main changes between December 2001 and the latest
survey in December 2002 are as follows:
- The area of wheat sown has decreased by 10 per cent
to 86,000 hectares, however oilseed rape areas
increased by 13 per cent and there was little overall
change in crops and grass areas.
- Cattle numbers were unchanged at 1.9 million, but
the numbers of sheep fell by four per cent to 5.5
million.
- For intensive livestock, the total number of pigs
fell by 15 per cent to 487,000. Poultry numbers fell by
eight per cent to 13 million.
- The total number of regular staff employed fell by
three per cent, similar to the fall between December
2000 and 2001.
The main results of the Aggregate Agricultural Account
show:-
- Total Income From Farming (TIFF) is forecast to
have risen by £43m in 2002, a rise of 15 per cent from
the previous year.
- The value of gross output is forecast to have risen
by almost three per cent since 2001. This rise is
mainly driven by an estimated increase of around 13 per
cent in the output of the livestock sector - reflecting
the recovery of cattle and sheep output from the
effects of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001. The
increases in livestock output are offset to some extent
by estimated falls in the output of cereals (six per
cent) and milk and milk products (10 per cent).
- The value of inputs remained fairly static in 2002,
although there were rises in the costs of feeding
stuffs and miscellaneous expenses.
- The total cost of interest is estimated to have
fallen by around nine per cent from 2001, reflecting
the relatively low bank borrowing rates throughout
2002.
The results from the Farm Accounts Survey show:-
- Averaged across all farm types the trend in mean
Net Farm Incomes is upwards, except for arable and
sheep farms. The mean Net Farm Income across all farm
types was around £10,000 in 2001/2, compared with
£6,000 in 2000/1.