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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many grants have been given to support organic farming in the UK in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) county and (b) the purpose for which the grant was given. [116931] Mr. Morley: The table sets out by county in the years concerned the number of agreements with farmers in England in respect of aid under the Organic Farming Scheme to support conversion to organic farming. Aid paid elsewhere in the UK to support organic farming is the responsibility of the devolved Administrations and the Northern Ireland Department. On 5 June 2003, I launched a modified Organic Farming Scheme which offers support to existing organic farmers, in order to encourage the continued management of organic land in an environmentally beneficial way, as well as supporting conversion to organic farming. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. County 2000 2001 2002 Total Avon 29 45 49 123 Bedfordshire 3 7 8 18 Berkshire 8 13 15 36 Buckinghamshire 13 21 26 60 Cambridgeshire 12 23 26 61 Cheshire 31 61 69 161 Cleveland -- 2 2 4 Cornwall 76 118 128 322 Cumbria 27 45 52 124 Derbyshire 27 45 47 119 Devonshire 221 329 364 914 Dorset 67 113 124 304 Durham 5 9 9 23 East Sussex 34 64 71 169 Essex 14 24 28 66 Gloucestershire 56 102 115 273 Greater London -- 1 1 2 Greater Manchester 1 2 3 6 Hampshire 18 37 46 101 Hereford and Worcestershire 79 121 138 338 Hertfordshire 7 8 10 25 Humberside 10 18 22 50 Isle of Wight 2 3 3 8 Kent 33 59 63 155 Lancashire 22 27 30 79 Leicestershire 20 33 35 88 Lincolnshire 41 66 75 182 Merseyside 5 7 8 20 Norfolk 29 50 60 139 North Yorkshire 47 81 86 214 Northamptonshire 10 14 16 40 Northumberland 20 33 45 98 Nottinghamshire 10 15 16 41 Oxfordshire 25 35 43 103 Shropshire 39 67 79 185 Somerset 61 105 120 286 South Yorkshire 6 6 8 20 Staffordshire 27 49 54 130 Suffolk 25 40 45 110 Surrey 6 11 14 31 Tyne and Wear -- -- 1 1 Warwickshire 15 22 25 62 West Midlands 3 3 3 9 West Sussex 16 35 40 91 West Yorkshire 14 18 19 51 Wiltshire 70 126 143 339 Grand Total 1,284 2,113 2,384 5,781 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

116931; 407 c191-2W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Grants Organic farming Organic farming scheme

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk