Over 70 per cent of the total UK land area is under agricultural uses. The total area of agricultural land increased by 1 per cent between 1998 and 2005. The area under crops fell by 8 per cent in the same period, and rough grazing land decreased by 4 per cent details of crop areas. Grassland increased by 4 per cent, urban and other land decreased by 9 per cent and the amount of set-aside land grew by 80 per cent between 1998 and 2005 (phased out late 2007).

There is increasing pressure on land, putting land prices up over last few years. This pressure comes - not so much from residential development as it slows in the credit crunch, but from the five "f"'s - Fuel (biofuels have already used most 'setaside' land and old fashioned wood burning), Fibre (for paper) Food, Feed (for beef), Forest (for Climate mitigation).

Land Use

There is a new classification of land use designed "to provide a framework for harmonising existing classifications, to facilitate consistent collection and reporting of land use information and provide a basis for the creation of national data sets". UK Land Use However there are no plans at present to produce a map according to this classification, instead the Generalised Land Use Database (GLUD) (pdf) will be used.

The statistics of agriculture and land use through time in the UK can be found at A Vision of Britain (Ag/Land)

RELU ...Aut 08 "What is Land for?" pdf

Check Land use in your Region

e-digest statistics on Land Use & Land Cover