POOR farmgate prices, rising input costs and falling support levels see farm incomes halved in a year.
The latest Scottish Government statistics estimate that average farm incomes have decreased by 48 per cent in the last year alone, leaving farming families a return of £12,600. The downward slide in farm incomes, since a peak in 2010/11, has seen a 75 percent fall over five years.
Official figures reveal that the income generated from almost twothirds of farm businesses would not have been enough to meet the legal minimum agricultural wage for paid workers.