Land used for top fruit

​​​Request 858463568

Please provide, for each year from 2018 to 2025 inclusive, any recorded information held concerning: 

1. The total area in hectares or vergées recorded as top fruit. 

2. Where separately recorded, the area used for apples and the area used for pears. 

3. The number of agricultural holdings reporting apple orchards or top-fruit production. 

4. Any aggregate tonnage or value of apples harvested, sold, processed or supplied for cider or juice production.

Please also provide the most recent existing report, dataset or methodology describing how top-fruit area is collected or estimated.

Response

Question 1 and 3

Data for the information requested is only held for 2024 and 2025 and is not held by the Department for the Economy for 2018-2023. Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information Jersey (Law) 2011 has been applied.

Question 1 and 3

2

There is no data held for Pears. Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information Jersey (Law) 2011 has been applied.

4

Data for the information requested is only held for 2025 and is not held by the Department for the Economy for 2018-2024. Therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information Jersey (Law) 2011 has been applied.

From information given for 2025 specifying value of apples (for cider / juice), the total of £21,402 was received. Other figures for companies that have orchards and create apple products were not broken down into specified "Apple" values so we cannot accurately state a figure for number of tonnes or the value of apples.

A brief description of the land declaration data collection process and the caveats on this data set (including that this is potentially not all the whole of production on Jersey, just those who are on the Rural Support Scheme).

All approved agricultural businesses are contacted each year to provide details of their activities for the previous year. For instance, in 2026 we are receiving field data for 2025. The Land Declaration asks for the following;

• Land Parcel Number – the field number allocated by GOJ to land areas across the island

• Official Size – Verified by GOJ

• Area used – Some land parcels may be split by crop or use

• Land use – How is that land categorised

• Crop / Land type – What is being grown on that land / how that land is being used; from apple orchard to wheat

It should be noted that the dataset held by the Department for the Economy is limited to applicants registered on the Rural Support Scheme, and no comprehensive or sector-wide data set exists. Any figures provided are drawn solely from this registered population and may not reflect non-scheme participants.

Article applied

Article 3 Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.