Defra, on behalf of the Agricultural Departments of the United Kingdom, today published Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2004, which describes the situation in agriculture during 2004. It reports on farm incomes, the structure of the industry, prices, each of the main agricultural commodities, the economic accounts for agriculture, productivity and subsidies. It also contains information on overseas trade, organic farming, conservation and land management, agriculture's impact on the environment and key statistics for EU Member States.

Key findings for 2004 are:

• The value of gross output from the agricultural industry including subsidies directly linked to product, increased by 2.5 per cent to £16.9 billion while intermediate consumption rose by 5.4 per cent due in part to the rise in the oil price, to £9.0 billion.

• Total subsidies (less levies) paid to farmers rose by 4.5 per cent to £2.8 billion.

• The United Kingdom's self-sufficiency in indigenous type food is estimated to be 74 per cent and that for all food is estimated to be 63 per cent.

• The average producer price of agricultural products rose by 3.3 per cent while the average price of agricultural inputs rose by 6.8 per cent.

BACKGROUND

Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2004 is the 17th volume in an annual series. It is available (price £22, ISBN 0-11-243086-4) from The Stationary Office (TSO), telephone 0870 600 5522 (www.tso.co.uk/bookshop), and is also available on the internet at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/publications/auk/default.asp.

A Defra Statistical Notice published on 27 January 2005 provided a summary of the provisional estimates of incomes, output and productivity of agriculture in the United Kingdom set out in this publication. These provide an update to the forecasts published in the Defra Statistical Notice of 30 November 2004