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Analyse And Evaluate The Impact That The Development Of Food Processing Has ...


Analyse and evaluate the impact that the development of food processing has upon selected agricultural regions.
Evaluate the synergy that is said to exist between the agricultural and food processing industries.

Overview of the research
Following this introduction, chapter two provides a brief background of the development of both the agricultural and food processing industries. This is followed by a critical literary review within chapter three. Chapter four provides details of the methods used for the research required for this paper, with the findings from resulted from the research are analysed and discussed in full in chapter five. The conclusion of this study, together with any recommendations that are considered appropriate, are outlined in chapter six.
Chapter 2 Background
Following the advances in technology over the course of the past three decades, there have been significant changes witnessed both within the agricultural and food processing, as they exist in the UK.
UK Agricultural Industry
Following WWII, the concentration upon the economic value of British agriculture came a poor last place to other industries as the UK sought to rebuild its economic position. Thus agriculture was basically left to fend for itself as it sought to compete with an increasing level of food products being imported from overseas markets (Greer 2005, p.86).
In line with the general industry trends, in both of the selected areas there has been a decline in the agriculture economy during the course of the past three decades, despite the fact that the rural areas have historically relied upon this industry to maintain their local communities. In the UK the rural farming decline has been exacerbated by the concentration of farming methods undertaken by large corporations together with the increasing levels of imported produce, which can be purchased at prices that the UK farmers cannot compete. Similarly, the pressure from retailers for lower pricing has reduced the competitiveness of the local farms. Evidence of these events can be seen from the following (figure 1).
This table shows how, during the past decade the agricultural industry contribution to the UK economy has fallen to nearly half of its 1996 value and the GDP by two thirds. Furthermore, whilst our exports in this are have remained relatively static, imports have increased by nearly 40%, which has affected the country's self-sufficiency levels. Similarly, although net farm incomes have steadily increased since 1999, the total income from farming has halved, which indicates the size of the agricultural resources that have been lost since the turn of the century.
Source: http://www.ukagriculture.com/statistics/farming_statistics.cfm?strsection=Economy
The concentration of farming into bigger units has been more pronounced in the UK, with an average farm size of 66.

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