rural population

Thought provoking typical Monbiot article…. Government figures show that there are 115,000 people, across all categories, working on English farms. They comprise 0.2% of the total population, and 1.2% of the rural population. If you include everyone who might be involved in farming, including farmers’ spouses, partners, directors and managers, the total reaches 306,000, which means 0.5% of the total population, and 3% of the rural population. In other words, using the most generous definition of farmers and farmworkers, 97% of rural people are not employed by the industry. But as far as government policy is concerned, farming and the countryside are synonymous. If you’re not a farmer, your interests are overlooked, your voice unheard. You’re a second-class rural citizen.