Agriculture: Land Use
(asked on 12th June 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate his Department has made of the total area of farmland (a) in the UK and (b) abroad used to grow (i) fruit and vegetables for UK consumption, (ii) animal feed crops for UK use and (iii) bioenergy crops for UK use; and if he will make a statement.
The latest available areas of crops grown in the UK are in the table below. We do not collect any information on the end use of the crops so we are unable to quantify how much of this area is used for UK consumption. Similarly, we have no information on the areas grown abroad that are used for UK consumption (trade data is only based on volumes).
Year | Crop | Area (thousand hectares) |
2019 | Fruit and vegetables | 149 |
2019 | Animal feed crops(1) | 412 |
2018 | Bioenergy crops | 94 |
Source: June 2019 Agricultural and Horticultural Survey, United Kingdom. Department for Transport Renewable Fuels Transport Obligation data.
Notes: (1) Animal feed crops include forage maize (England only), field beans and peas for harvesting dry, root crops, brassicas, fodder beet and all other crops for stockfeeding. Cereals are excluded as we are unable to split between animal feed and human uses.