The Agricultural Holdings (Units of Production) Order 1988

Made: 9th August 1988

Laid before Parliament: 18th August 1988

Coming into force: 12th September 1988

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in relation to England and the Secretary of State in relation to Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by paragraph 4 of Schedule 6 to the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986([^f00001]), and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Order:—

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Agricultural Holdings (Units of Production) Order 1988 and shall come into force on 12th September 1988.

• (2) Any reference in this Order to “the Schedule” shall be construed as a reference to the Schedule to this Order, and the reference to column 3 of the Schedule shall be construed as including a reference to the note to that column.

Assessment of productive capacity of land

2

• (1) Paragraph (2) of this article has effect for the purpose of the assessment of the productive capacity of a unit of agricultural land, in order to determine whether that unit is a commercial unit of agricultural land within the meaning of subparagraph (1) of paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986.

• (2) Where the land in question would be capable, when farmed under competent management, of carrying or producing any such livestock, crop etc. as is mentioned in any entry in column 1 of the Schedule—

• (a) the unit of production prescribed in relation to that use of the land shall be the unit specified in column 2 of the Schedule opposite to that entry, and

• (b) the amount which, for the period of 12 months beginning with 12th September 1988, is to be regarded for the purposes of the said paragraph 3 as the net annual income from that unit of production in that period shall be the amount so specified in column 3 of the Schedule.

Revocation

3

The Agricultural Holdings (Units of Production) Order 1987([^f00002]) is hereby revoked.

SCHEDULE — PRESCRIBED UNITS OF PRODUCTION AND DETERMINATION OF NET ANNUAL INCOME

1

Livestock

• Dairy cows:

2

Farm arable crops

3

Outdoor horticultural crops

4

Protected crops

5

Orchard fruit

6

Soft fruit

• Blackcurrants

7

Miscellaneous

• Bees

Signed

In witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is hereunto affixed on 9th August 1988.

John MacGregor — Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Peter Walker — Secretary of State for Wales — 4th August 1988

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order prescribes units of production for the assessment of the productive capacity of agricultural land and sets out the amount which is to be regarded as the net annual income from each such unit for the year 12th September 1988 to 11th September 1989 inclusive. In so far as the units of production prescribed in the Order are relevant to the assessment they are to be used, in conjunction with the net annual income ascribed to them, in calculating the net annual income of the unit of land when assessing whether it is a commercial unit of agricultural land for the purposes of the succession provisions in Part IV of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, that is to say a unit of agricultural land which is capable, when farmed under competent management, of producing a net annual income not less than the aggregate of the average annual earnings of two full-time, male agricultural workers aged 20 or over, (see paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 6 to the Act). Therefore the assessment will not necessarily be based on the system of farming carried out on the holding or on historical data from the holding.

The net annual income figures in column 3 of the Schedule specify the net annual income from one unit of production. In some cases the net annual income is derived from a unit which will be on the land for the full twelve month period. In other cases the net annual income is derived from a unit which will be on the land for only part of the year, and there may be more than one production cycle in the twelve month period. The assessment of the productive capacity of the land will take account of the total production in the course of a year.

The Order supersedes the Agricultural Holdings (Units of Production) Order 1987.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1986 c. 5; section 96(1) of the Act defines “the Minister” in the sense here expressed.

[^f00002]: S.I. 1987/1465.

[^f00003]: S.I. 1984/2024, to which there are amendments not relevant to this Order.

[^f00004]: This amount relates to an animal (irrespective of age) which would be kept for 12 months. In the case of an animal which would be kept for less than 12 months a pro-rata adjustment of the amount is to be made.