FARM SIZE STRUCTURE IN ENGLAND AND WALES 1939-89

Distributional issues are central to the political economy of agriculture, yet empirical research into structural change is comparatively limited. This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the evolution of the size distribution of agricultural holdings in England and Wales based on the fitting of a lognormal density function to the size distribution in each year. The empirical results point to the continued survival of large numbers of small farms in spite of the increasing concentration of land on larger units over the post-war period. Consideration is also given to the implications of the methodology for the direction of further research into structural and related distributional issues.