1. Since the late 18th century, the UK has adopted a capitalist mode of production, with its agriculture once leading in Europe. By the early 19th century, the UK remained an agriculturally developed nation, largely self-sufficient in food. It was known as the "Workshop of the World," practicing a policy of international division of labor that emphasized "British industry and agricultural production in other countries." Due to the neglect of agriculture under such policies, the sector gradually declined, becoming more reliant on the world market.
2. In the 1870s, the UK's domestic food production was sufficient to meet 79% of its population's needs. By the time of World War I, this figure had dropped to 36%. In 1913, the grain planting area had decreased by 25% from 1870; by 1931, this further decreased to 1.963 million hectares, a drop of 41.7%, with production also falling by 20.6%. During World War II, British grain imports were hindered by the German U-boat campaign, leading to domestic food supply difficulties. The government was forced to implement rationing and began to support agriculture more strongly, adopting various measures such as rewarding land reclamation, increasing mechanization, and raising farmgate prices.
3. After the war, it took the UK about 15 years to reverse the decline of agriculture and gradually achieve modernization. Currently, the UK's agriculture boasts high labor productivity and yield per unit area. In 1994, each agricultural worker could produce 38.4 tons of grain, 6,428 kg of meat, 29,364 kg of milk, and 1,224 kg of eggs; these figures increased to 44.5 tons, 6,539 kg, 29,372 kg, and 1,235 kg respectively by 2002.
4. The UK's agricultural structure is dominated by animal husbandry, with almost all outputs from this sector being "final products" available for direct sale by agricultural enterprises. A significant portion of the output from crop cultivation serves as feed for animal husbandry. Animal husbandry in the UK includes cattle, sheep, pig, and poultry production departments, with cattle breeding having the largest output value.
5. The UK's production unit is the farm, mainly divided into two types: owner-operated farms relying on the labor of the farm owner and their family, and large farms managed by hired workers. The UK has the largest average farm size and the highest proportion of large farms among developed countries. This is one of the reasons why the UK's agricultural labor productivity is significantly higher than that of other EU countries.
6. UK agriculture is modern, capital-intensive, and technology-driven. Due to the high level of urbanization in the UK, there is a scarcity of agricultural labor. As a result, the country widely adopts modern technology, science, and management to increase labor productivity and pursues a capital-intensive development model.
7. UK agriculture is highly regionalized and specialized, with the country divided into four agricultural regions, each allocated for forestry, agriculture, and animal husbandry according to local characteristics. The UK's self-sufficiency rate in agricultural products is low, making it one of the world's major importers of agricultural products.
