Great Britain Dep — Current theme: Agriculture & Land Use

This aspect of the Vision of Britain system presents data from two kinds of source: Agricultural Censuses, which gathered data on the kinds of crops planted and animals raised, usually from farmers; and Land Use Mapping, which actually surveyed land use, field by field. Work on this theme has been funded by DEFRA, the Environment Agency and the Frederick Soddy Trust. Our most detailed information on land use is, in fact, the complete set of the maps published by the Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain, included in our 'Historical Mapping' section.



We hold these detailed statistics for Britain, which we graph and tabulate here:

Available datasets Period covered Variables
(number of categories)
Acreages of different crops, as reported by Agricultural Censuses 1922-35 1931 Agricultural Census Crop Categories, 1922- (22)
Acreages of different crops, as reported by the Agricultural Census for 1891 through 1901. 1891 to 1901 Agricultural Census Crop Categories, 1891-1901 (18)
Acreages of different crops, as reported by the Agricultural Census for 1910. 1911 Agricultural Census Crop Categories for 1910 (19)
Acreages of different crops, as reported by the Agricultural Census in 1871. 1871 Agricultural Census Crop Categories, 1871- (17)
Acreages of different crops, as reported by the Agricultural Census in 1881. 1881 Agricultural Census Crop Categories, 1881- (16)
Acreages of farms by type of tenure. 1891 to 1901 Agricultural Census Tenure-type Categories for 1891 (2)
Ages of fowls (chickens) as recorded by the Agricultural Census 1961 Agricultural Census Categories of Fowl in 1950 (2)
Ages of sheep as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1871 to 1891 Agricultural Census Sheep Categories for 1866-1891 (2)
Ages of sheep as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1901 Agricultural Census Sheep Categories for 1900-10 (3)
Ages & usage of fowls (chickens) as recorded by the Agricultural Census 1961 Agricultural Census Categories of Fowl in 1960 (4)
Basic land use categories, as reported by the Agricultural Census 1871 to 1961 Land Areas reported by the Agricultural Census (6)
Categories of Cattle as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1901 Agricultural Census Cattle Categories for 1900-01 (4)
Categories of Cattle as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1931 Agricultural Census Cattle Categories for 1920-31 (7)
Categories of Cattle as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1871 to 1891 Agricultural Census Cattle Categories for 1866-91 (3)
Categories of Cattle as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1911 Agricultural Census Cattle Categories for 1910-11 (5)
Categories of horse as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1901 Agricultural Census Horse Categories for 1900-10 (3)
Categories of horse as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1931 Agricultural Census Horse Categories for 1920-31 (5)
Categories of horse as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1871 to 1881 Agricultural Census Horse Categories for 1870-1885 (2)
Categories of horse as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1891 Agricultural Census Horse Categories for 1891 (3)
Farmland Use, as reported by the Agricultural Census 1871 to 1961 Agricultural Census Categories for Farmland (2)
Farmland Use, as reported by the Land Utilisation Survey 1931 Land Utilisation Survey farmland categories (2)
Farmworkers, as reported by the Agricultural Census 1931 Agricultural Census Generalised Categories for Farmworkers (5)
Farmworkers, as reported by the Agricultural Census 1931 Agricultural Census Categories for Farmworkers in 1930 (6)
Generalised agricultural crop classification for 1866-1970. 1871 to 1931 Agricultural Census Generalised Crop Categories (13)
Generalised Categories for Horses as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1871 to 1931 Agricultural Census Generalised Horse Categories (2)
Generalised Cattle Categories as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1901 to 1931 Agricultural Census Generalised Cattle Categories (3)
Generalised Crop Acreages 1871 to 1931 Generalised Crop Categories (6)
Generalised Pig Categories as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1961 Agricultural Census Generalised Pig Categories (3)
Generalised Sheep Categories as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1901 to 1931 Agricultural Census Generalised Sheep Categories (3)
Land Utilisation in the 1930s (LUSGB data) 1931 Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain categories (6)
Pasture Use, as reported by the Agricultural Census 1871 to 1961 Agricultural Census Categories for Pasture (2)
Total area, in acres 1931 Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain Total (1)
Total areas of reporting units 1871 to 1931 Total Area (for Farm Census) (1)
Total Farm Workforce, as reported by the Agricultural Census 1931 Variable for total number of farmworkers (1)
Types of Animal reported by the Agricultural Census 1871 to 1961 Types of animal listed by the Agricultural Census (6)
Types of pig as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1931 Agricultural Census Pig Categories for 1920-30 (3)
Types of pig as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1961 Agricultural Census Pig Categories for 1940-41 (8)
Types of pig as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1901 Agricultural Census Pig Categories for 1900-10 (2)
Types of poultry as recorded by the Agricultural Census. 1931 to 1961 Agricultural Census Poultry Categories (4)
Types of sheep as reported by the Agricultural Census. 1931 Agricultural Census Sheep Categories for 1920-30 (4)

Read more about how we hold statistics here.