RECENT ECONOMIC TRENDS
| Date | 01 October 1956 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1956.tb01179.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1956 |
| Author | J. H. Smith |
RECENT ECONOMIC TRENDS
%
-32
-58
-6.7
-4.1
-1.8
-24
-1.7
+0*25
+3.7
POST-WAR TRENDS
IN
SCOTTISH
AGRICULTURE
THIS
note presents information showing post-war trends in the size
of
agricultural holdings and in landownership in Scotland. Although
the
agricultural statistics relate to holdings rather than farms, and
include many units not occupied by farmers or managed as com-
mercial units, it is clear that the number and proportion of
medium-to-large-sized farms have increased since the end
of
the war.
The number of agricultural holdings
is
affected by the transfer-
ence of land to and from agriculture. During the war years the area
in
Scotland under crops and grass was reduced from 4,558,000 to
4,425,000 acres, and since the war it has been further reduced
to
4,387,000 acres (1955). Between 1945 and 1955 the total agricultural
area, including rough grazing land, has been reduced by nearly 58,000
acres. The wartime transference of land to military uses mainly
affected the larger farms and holdings, and since
1945
these have
gained land from the Services Departments. In recent years farm
land taken for houses and industrial uses may have affected the
Acres
-
1,400
-1o.OOo
-11.400
-
10.600
-
6.700
-
9,000
-
12.700
+
2.100
+21,900
TABLE
I
CHANGES IN THE SIZE-DISTRIBUTION
OF
AGRICULTURAL
+I29
+30
-5
-2
-214
-225
+
1,425
Size
of
holdinns
(crops
and
prass)
Acres
-___
I-
5
5- 15
15-
30
30- 50
50- 75
75-100
100-150
150-300
DO
and
over
Total
4-2.0
+0*5
-01
-003
-92
-95
--
+1.9
Niimber
of
holdinqs,
1955
16.941
17.775
7.778
6,200
5.594
4.276
5,748
6,488
2,226
73,026
HOLDINGS,
1939-55
Changes in
the
niirnbcr
of
holdings Estimated
I
change
in
1939-45
-
No.
-
559
-
1,096
-
556
-
267
-
104
-
104
-100
+
16
+
80
-
2,690
I
-36
1
-37,800
number of smaller holdings to
a
greater degree than that of the large
farms, but if land area is considered then it is likely that medium-
sized farms have lost most. The wartime increase in the number
of
249
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