I hope that this first session,which I've called AlIntroduction to British Agriculture,will provide ahelpful background to the farm visits you'll be doingnext week.
I think I should start by emphasising that agriculturestill accounts for a very important part of thiscountry s economy.We are used to hearing the UK'ssocitey and economy described as being 'industrial'oreven 'post-industrial',but we mustn't let this blind usto the fact that agriculture and its supportingindustries still account for around 20% of our GrossNational Product.
This figure is especially impressive,I think,when you bear in mind how very small apercentage of the UK workforce is employed in agriculture.This is not a recent development -you would have to go back to 1750 or so to find a majority of the workforce in this countryworking in agriculture.By the middle of the next century,in 1850 that is,it had fallen sharply to10%,and then to 3% by the middle of the twentieth century.
