Forecasts Show Many Sectors on the Up
30 January 2012
UK - New government figures confirming a strong year for the farming industry are welcome, but the continued rise in input costs and the crisis in the eurozone means there's no room for complacency, the NFU said on Friday.
Defra's Farm Business Income forecasts for the year ending February 2012 predict incomes in several key sectors have strengthened over the last 12 months. Improvements in UK beef and milk prices, along with the relative strength of agricultural commodity prices have helped underpin the forecast.
According to the figures, dairy farmers are expected to see a 27 per cent increase in incomes. Grazing livestock farms should also see incomes improve, with a 30 per cent rise predicted for lowland grazing units and seven per cent for farms in less favoured areas, albeit to still modest areas.
A marginal increase is also expected in cereal farm income.
But the intensive livestock sectors have suffered, with incomes on pig farms forecast to be down by 20 per cent and on poultry farms by eight per cent.
Further data on farm incomes by sector will be available later in the year. This will use actual farm accounts collected via the Farm Business Survey, rather than a set of assumptions that underpin the current farm income forecasts.
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