114
a. R. POTTS AND a. P. VICKERMAN
I0
I
5 1 0 20 40 60 0090 95 99
Accumulating percentage frequency
FIG. 2. Accumulating frequency distribution of field sizes on two different farms
in 1972. The distribution on Craggs Lane Farm in North Yorkshire is typical
of the original field sizes in mixed farm areas; that on North Farm is typicad of
many large, fully mechanised arable farms.
made estimates of hedgerow disappearance in different parts of Britain
and found it varied from 0.12 km/100 ha in the extreme south-west
(Cornwall) to 2.08 km/100 ha in the east (Huntingdon), over 16 years
between 1946 and 1962.
Although the processes of concentration have a long way to go in
farming compared with other industries, there have been some remarkable changes since the old rotation systems were abandoned. For
example, the number of cereal growers has almost halved since the
early 1950’s, and by 1967 two-thirds of the total cereal acreage of
nearly four million ha was grown on only 8% of total holdings (Britton,
1969). As in other countries the process has been polarized, so that much
of the Cheshire Plain is now given over entirely to dairying, and 90%
of the “standard man days” in West Suffolk, hitherto a mixed farming
area, are now given over to arable activities (Church et al., 1968).
a. R. POTTS AND a. P. VICKERMAN
I0
I
5 1 0 20 40 60 0090 95 99
Accumulating percentage frequency
FIG. 2. Accumulating frequency distribution of field sizes on two different farms
in 1972. The distribution on Craggs Lane Farm in North Yorkshire is typical
of the original field sizes in mixed farm areas; that on North Farm is typicad of
many large, fully mechanised arable farms.
made estimates of hedgerow disappearance in different parts of Britain
and found it varied from 0.12 km/100 ha in the extreme south-west
(Cornwall) to 2.08 km/100 ha in the east (Huntingdon), over 16 years
between 1946 and 1962.
Although the processes of concentration have a long way to go in
farming compared with other industries, there have been some remarkable changes since the old rotation systems were abandoned. For
example, the number of cereal growers has almost halved since the
early 1950’s, and by 1967 two-thirds of the total cereal acreage of
nearly four million ha was grown on only 8% of total holdings (Britton,
1969). As in other countries the process has been polarized, so that much
of the Cheshire Plain is now given over entirely to dairying, and 90%
of the “standard man days” in West Suffolk, hitherto a mixed farming
area, are now given over to arable activities (Church et al., 1968).