AGRICULTURE IN BRITAIN

Дата добавления: 2014-11-12; просмотров: 699

Although Britain is a densely populated industrial country relying on imports for half of its food supply, agriculture remains one of its largest and most important industries. It employs about one million people or 4 per cent of the labour force and provides about 5 per cent of the gross national product, using 48 million of the 60 million acres (a 0.4 hectare) of land.

The land in general is highly fertile, and current agricultural practices, founded upon an age-old tradition of good husbandry improved by the application of modern scientific methods, result in some of the world's finest pedigree livestock and a yield per acre of grain crop among the highest in the world.

In general, farms in Britain are run as businesses, each by a single manager, usually the farmer himself.

Types of farming vary with difference of soil and climate. In England and Wales out of total 29.8 million acres of agricultural land, 24.5 million acres are under crop and grass, the remainder being rough grazings. The chief crop is wheat followed by barley, oats, mixed corn and potatoes.

In Scotland out of total of over 15 million acres of agricultural land, 4.5 million acres are under crops and grass, the rest being rough grazings. The chief crop is oats; next come root crops for stock-feeding; potatoes, especially seed potatoes, and barley are also important crops. The wheat area is small.

Although the commoner vegetables and fruit are grown to some extent all over the country, there is a tendency for certain crops to be concentrated in specialized areas, e.g. carrots in Yorkshire, cherries in Kent, apples in Kent and Hereford, onions in the Fen district, early strawberries in Hampshire.

There are some 25,000 smallholdings in the United Kingdom provided by county councils. The smallholdings are let only to people with practical experience in agriculture, preferably agricultural workers, with the object of affording them an opportunity to become farmers on their own account.

There are also rather more than one million allotments in Great Britain. Most of these are allotment gardens and about half are permanent statutory allotments provided by local authorities that have the duty to provide allotments, if practicable, where there is a need.

The growing of vegetables and fruit and the keeping of small livestock such as poultry, rabbits, bees, pigs and goats by gardeners and allotment-holders is wide-spread in Britain.

Voluntary organizations exist to provide advice, guidance and trading facilities and generally to assist persons interested in the movement. The National Council for Domestic Food Production, formed in 1951, co-ordinates the work of these organizations and encourages the development of domestic food production.