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2009 December Survey of Agriculture
11/03/2010
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published results from the 2009 December Survey of Agriculture.
The results show the following trends between December 2008 and December 2009:
- The number of cattle fell by 21,000, from 1.78 million to 1.76 million (a decrease of 1.2 per cent).
- The number of sheep decreased by 104,000, from 4.7 million to 4.6 million (a decrease of 2.2 per cent).
- Pig numbers increased by 12,000, from 382,000 to 395,000 (an increase of 3.2 per cent).
- The number of poultry rose by 344,000, from 13.2 million to 13.6 million (an increase of 2.6 per cent).
- For winter crops sown by 1st December; there was a 17.3 per cent increase for wheat from 88,000 hectares to 104,000 hectares and a 14.7 percent increase for oilseed rape from 29,000ha to 33,000ha. The area of winter barley shows a decrease of 2.2 per cent from 53,000 hectares to 52,000 hectares. Compared to June Census results, which have a more comprehensive coverage, winter barley areas show an increase of 15.1 per cent from 45,000 hectares to 52,000 hectares. These increases in winter crops reflect more favourable sowing conditions in the autumn of 2009 compared to 2008.
- Total agricultural workforce rose by 800 from 45,000 to 45,800 (an increase of 1.7 per cent).
These results relate to main holdings only (i.e. holdings above a certain economic size or physical threshold) and exclude estimates for minor holdings. The size of this exclusion is shown alongside the published tables and is most prominent for agricultural labour, where minor holdings account for about 23% of the total. Estimates for minor holdings are included in the annual June Census publication.
In 2009 the December agricultural survey covered around 11,200 of the 26,200 main agricultural holdings in Scotland. Since these results are based on a sample, the estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty.
Charts showing ten year trends are presented alongside the statistical tables in the detailed publication of the survey results.
The December Agriculture Survey also collects information on a range of machinery, transport and other equipment used on agricultural holdings. This information takes longer to process and is published in the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture (ie tables C40, C41, C42 in the 2009 edition).