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The East

The East

The driest region in England, the East is well known for its productive cropping.
Oilseed rape field on the Norfolk coast. iStock.com/Tao_M

Place

The region is known as Britain’s breadbasket. Its climate, landscape and soils are ideally suited for growing wheat, barley and other combinable crops.

Production

It’s a major centre for horticulture, cultivating everything from peas and beans to apples, strawberries, salad crops, flowers and shrubs. Farmers in East Anglia harvest almost two-thirds of England’s sugar beet crop and more than one-third of its potato crop.

Britain’s pig and poultry farms are centred largely in East Anglia. The region produces more than 23 million table chickens each year and more than two million of England's 8.5 million flock of breeding hens.

It also has the second largest number of pigs in England, which is just over one million animals, and 26% of the national herd.

People

The East of England region employs 37,940 farm workers across 11,318 farms.

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South East
<p>Lowlands characterise the South East. These areas are made up of sedimentary rock and clays, forming flat agricultural plains.</p>
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East Midlands
<p>Agriculture is central to the East Midlands economy and the region uses 75% of its land for farming.</p>
Editorial statistics sourced from Defra's current data set.
Data for workforce proportions taken from TIAH's own labour market information research.