The fall in the pound has resulted in most English farm businesses seeing their income rise.

DEFRA published Farm Business Income figures for England for 2016/17, highlighted most farmers were on the up.

Cereals, potatoes, pigs and livestock have seen a rise in income. Meanwhile, the picture was not so pleasant for poultry and dairy.

Farms which rely more heavily on the Basic Area Payment saw increases with the average payment going up by 19%, thanks to the weakening of the pound. Meanwhile, businesses which had to buy in feed were most exposed to commodity price rises.

Beef and sheep

Lowland beef and sheep farms saw their incomes rise by 58%, with much of this due to the rising prices in the run up to Christmas. The growing national sheep flock could see incomes further improved over summer if lamb prices don’t fall.

Livestock farmers further up the hill, saw their incomes rise by 29%, much of it due to strong store trade, along with good demand for breeding animals.

Arable farmers

Cereal farmers saw an increase of 7% largely down to larger support payments, slightly stronger cereal prices and unchanged input costs. Potato farmers also saw an increased income due to strong demand for their produce.

Pigs

While pig farmers were exposed to increasing input prices, they did see a rise in pork prices which has gone some way towards their dramatic income rise. However, many pig farmers will be contracted so pig market rises might take a while to be fed back to farm gates.

Dairy

Meanwhile, milk prices were poor last year on average and milk output has also dipped, resulting in a fall in income.

However, with many farmers on direct milk contracts the picture is complicated and averages need to be treated with caution. Falling egg prices and increased feed costs have resulting in poultry farmers also feeling the pinch.

These figures come from DEFRA’s Farm Business Survey which is an annual face-to-face interview with 1,800 commercial farm businesses in England. All farms surveyed must have a standard output over €25,000.

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