Editing Economy of the Falkland Islands (section)

==Agriculture==
Farmland accounts for a little over 80% of the Falklands land area<ref name=Farms>{{Cite web
|url=http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/farming_statistics/2008-2009.pdf
|title=Biennial Report 2008/9
|publisher=Falklands Island Government Department of Agriculture
|date=31 May 2009
|access-date=18 April 2010
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720200043/http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/farming_statistics/2008-2009.pdf
|archive-date=20 July 2011
}}</ref> and a sheep appears on the islands' [[coat of arms]], but agriculture is now less than 2% of the economy.{{r|overview}} {{asof|2007}}, 670,000 sheep resided on the islands;{{r|herbert20070118}} a 2011 report estimated the sheep population at over one million.<ref>[http://www.thecattlesite.com/articles/2948/farming-in-the-falklands Farming In The Falklands], 29 November 2011.</ref>
Roughly 40%  of the national flock are on West Falkland and 60% on East Falkland.<ref name=Farms/> The base flock are [[Corriedale (sheep)|Corriedale]] and [[Polwarth (sheep)|Polwarth]] breeds with [[Merino|Dohne Merino]], South African Meat Merinos, [[Afrino_sheep|Afrinos]] and other breeds having been introduced to improve the fineness of wool and meat characteristics.<ref>{{Cite web
 |url          = http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/pdf_files/agricultural_booklet.pdf
 |title        = Agriculture in the Falkland Islands [pamphlet]
 |publisher    = Falklands Island Government Department of Agriculture
 |access-date   = 2 June 2010
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100714191741/http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/pdf_files/agricultural_booklet.pdf
 |archive-date = 14 July 2010
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> The wool price suffered a slump in 2005/6 and a peak in 2008. Since 2003 the relative premium commanded by higher quality wool has increased with coarser wool missing out on the high prices in 2008. A summary of the prices for the period 2002 to 2010, which are often dictated by Australian exchange rate and weather conditions<ref>{{cite magazine
|url= http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/wool_press/2007/july_2007.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720195557/http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/wool_press/2007/july_2007.pdf
|archive-date=2011-07-20
|magazine=The Wool Press
|title=Australian Wool Price Boost
|last= Hall
|first= Robert
|publisher=Falkland Islands Department of Agriculture
|date=July 2007
|volume=211
|page=15
|access-date=2 June 2010}}</ref> is shown below:<ref>{{cite magazine
|url= http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/wool_press/2010/may_2010.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720200116/http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/wool_press/2010/may_2010.pdf
|archive-date=2011-07-20
|magazine=The Wool Press
|title=Wool Price Trend Over Time Graph
|publisher=Falkland Islands Department of Agriculture
|date=July 2007
|volume=244
|page=12
|access-date=2 June 2010}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
!Fibre diameter
!Minimum price ([[Penny (British decimal coin)|p]]/kg)
!Maximum price ([[Penny (British decimal coin)|p]]/kg)
|-
|32 [[Micrometre|microns]]
|130 (2007)
|210 (2003)
|-
|28 [[Micrometre|microns]]
|180 (2006)
|280 (2003)
|-
|24 [[Micrometre|microns]]
|255 (2006)
|530 (2010)
|-
|20 [[Micrometre|microns]]
|290 (2005)
|590 (2010)
|-
|}

Although the production of wool is spread across the islands, the breeding of animals for slaughter is concentrated on East Falkland where the EU accredited Send Bay abattoir is situated.<ref>{{Cite web
 |url          = http://www.falklands-meat.com/index.htm
 |title        = Home Page
 |publisher    = Falkland Islands Meat Company
 |access-date   = 2 June 2010
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110203090309/http://www.falklands-meat.com/index.htm
 |archive-date = 3 February 2011
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> An additional cost borne by producers on West Falklands is the fare charged for crossing the [[Falklands Sound]].  As of 2010, the ferry company making the crossing charged commercial vehicles £30 per metre for a single trip plus £2 per head of sheep. Wool on the other hand is charged "£45 per tonne delivered to Stanley".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.workboat.co.fk/downloads/2010CBFares.pdf |title=Concordia Bay -Tariffs 2010 |publisher=Workboat Services Ltd |access-date=18 July 2010 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

An increasing number of farmers are supplying lamb to the Falkland Islands Meat Company. The abattoir received export accreditation in December 2002 and began exporting meat in May 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.falklands.gov.fk/Agriculture.html |title=The Falkland Islands Government - Agriculture |year=2009 |publisher=Falkland Islands Government |access-date=31 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101216190957/http://www.falklands.gov.fk/Agriculture.html |archive-date=16 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The number of farms supplying lambs increased from 6 in 2003 to 27 in 2007 while the number of lambs sent to the abattoir rose from 2600 to 11,963 in the same period.<ref>{{Cite web
 |url          = http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/wool_press/2007/july_2007.pdf
 |title        = Is there money in lamb?
 |last       = Judd
 |first       = Neil
 |date         = July 2007
 |work         = The Wool Press, Vol. 211
 |page         = 3
 |publisher    = Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government
 |access-date   = 29 July 2010
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720195557/http://www.agriculture.gov.fk/publications/wool_press/2007/july_2007.pdf
 |archive-date = 20 July 2011
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref>

Selected statistics for the year 2008/9 relating to sheep farming are given below:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
!Region
!Area used for sheep (hectares)
!Number of sheep
!Sheep slaughtered
!Wool clipped (kg)
!Average fleece (kg)
!Greasy wool yield (kg/hectare)
|-
|East&nbsp;Falkland
|612,935
|292,917
|22,023
|923,632
|3.69
|1.86
|-
|West&nbsp;Falkland
|425,592
|182,741
|7,839
|602,618
|3.60
|1.54
|-
|Islands
|85,458
|28,962
|4,197
|110,595
|4.55
|1.69
|-
|Total
|1,123,985
|504,620
|34,059
|1,636,845
|3.95
|1.70
|-
|}

There are also a small number of cows, pigs and horses on the islands that are reared for local use.<ref name=Farms/>