Agriculture in the National Framework

This chapter explains, in the broadest of terms, what the UK agricultural industry is and how it fits into the national economy. The intention is to give an overall picture of the industry so that the more detailed chapters which follow can be set in context. Because UK agriculture is part of the broader agriculture of the European Community, to which a common policy is applied, it is valuable to compare the position of farming in Britain with that found in other member states. Many of the changes happening in British and European agriculture have parallels elsewhere in the world. Indeed, to appreciate the position of agriculture in the UK’s national framework it helps to have an awareness of the process of general economic development, the role which agriculture plays in this process and the changes which occur in the agricultural industry as a country grows and becomes richer. We start, then, with an overview of British agriculture but progress to the European Community level and then the world scale to give the national scene some perspective.