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Agriculture and Forestry

Agriculture occupies about 80 per cent of the land area of Wales, and is dominated by sheep- and cattle-rearing in the uplands, and dairy-farming in the lowlands. The main crops grown are fodder crops, apart from the potato crop. Market gardening and pig- and chicken-farming are also of growing importance. Reforestation programmes mean that about 12 per cent of Wales is now covered by woodlands. Most of the new plantings are of fast-growing commercial softwoods, and the forestry industry is an important source of employment in rural areas of central, western, and northern Wales, where the new woodlands are concentrated.