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Results from December 2007 Agricultural Survey
05/03/2008
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published results from the December 2007 Agricultural Survey, which gives a picture of agricultural activity in Scotland.
The trends between December 2006 and December 2007 show:
- The number of cattle fell by 2.4 per cent from 1.87 million to 1.83 million
- The number of sheep decreased, from 5.2 million to 5.1 million (1.6 per cent)
- Pig numbers decreased by 4.2 per cent from 470,000 to 450,000
- The number of poultry rose by 4.9 per cent from 13.1 million to 13.7 million
- The area of winter wheat rose by 11.4 per cent from 102,000 hectares to 114,000 hectares and the area of winter barley rose by 6.9 per cent from 55,000 hectares to 59,000 hectares. The area of winter oilseed rape decreased by 14.4 percent from 38,000ha to 33,000ha
The results relate to the annual December agricultural survey of main holdings - i.e. holdings above a certain economic or physical threshold (generally, those of more than one hectare or where the net value of crops & livestock is more than 1.67 European Size Units). The returns are completed by farmers, who provide information on the crops and livestock on the land which they own or rent on a permanent basis.
In 2007 the December agricultural survey covered around 11,100 of the 26,000 main agricultural holdings in Scotland, Since these results are based on a sample, the estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty.
Please note that poultry numbers in December are subject to some variation due to the nature of operations in this sector which can lead to temporary changes in stock levels.
Charts showing ten year trends are presented alongside the statistical tables in the detailed publication of the survey results.
Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.