Introduction

An inter-war ploughing scene at Northampton Catalogue reference: COPY 1/419

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From 1866 through to the present day, annual agricultural statistics have been compiled from figures supplied by farmers in England and Wales. Although the original returns have been destroyed, the statistics compiled from these returns provide useful parish 'summaries' relating to both livestock and cultivated land.

For the record:

English and Welsh Parish Summaries with their wealth of agricultural facts and figures can be found in MAF 68(1). Until 1917 the returns were collected on a voluntary basis, the Government departments concerned having no statutory powers to compel proprietors to make returns or to exact penalties for providing false information. From 1917 it became compulsory for returns to be made, and proprietors were given assurances of confidentiality.

Summaries for years down to 1917 are available without restriction, but readers desiring access to later ones are required to complete a Form of Undertaking not to extract any details which relate to an area comprising less than a group of three holdings. We have this form available in our research Enquiries room. The summaries are arranged and listed by year and then by individual county. You can expect to find in each summary:

For 1988 onwards these summaries are kept in MAF 408 and can be viewed electronically at the UK National Digital Archive (datasets) at the University of London under reference CRDA/4.

The returns have been exploited collectively in the production of annual volumes of Agricultural Statistics, England and Wales, from 1866, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. An extra volume, Century of Agricultural Statistics, 1866-1966, appeared in 1967.

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Useful links

Footnotes

1. Summaries for Scottish parishes are held by the Scottish Record Office, H M General Register House, Edinburgh. EH1 3YY.

1910-15 Valuation Office maps and field books