The Agri Brigade
G
IVEN how loudly and often farmers complain about their financial plight, environment secretary Emma Reynolds has put a surprisingly positive spin on the latest Farm Business Income (FBI) figures for England.
Incomes for all farm types (except specialist pig farms) have risen sharply over the past year. But do the figures disguise a growing crisis in the profitability of food production that threatens the UK’s food self-sufficiency?
The biggest rise in FBI has been on grazing livestock farms, which have benefited from strong rises in retail and farmgate red meat prices, partly driven by social media influencers advocating meat as a source of protein that is good for both physical and mental health and not ultra-processed. Lowland beef and sheep enterprises saw average incomes leap from £18,500 to £41,300, while upland (“less favoured area”) livestock grazing farms saw average incomes rise by 61 percent, to £40,300.