Really ?

[7610 super q]

See that article in the FW ?

Total output in the last 40 years down 37%
Profit down 43%
Farmer numbers down 52%
Farm workers down 40%
Dairy cow numbers down 45% ( output up 8% )
Cereals area down 15% ( output up 50% )

Land price £5650 / acre in 1973...... miss print surely ?

Anyhoo.........the glory years under the CAP..

 

[Bald Rick]

Think the land price would have been £565/ac and would have seemed expensive to those buying at the time.

Otherwise I can believe those stats although I am surprised that dairy output is only up 8% after 40 odd years of genetic improvements and better understanding of cow nutrition. On a cow per cow basis ie comparing a mid 70s cow to a 2019 cow, I would have thought it would be chalk & cheese

 

[mark perego]

Nowt to do with the cap,exploited by the supermarkets and processors.
Never be much profit in the job anymore now the Irish own most of the killing plants.

 

[milkloss]

Are things going to get any better? If farmers need anything right now it’s a dose of realism rather than jam tomorrow.

 

[7610 super q]

Are things going o get any better? If farmers need anything right now it’s a dose of realism rather than jam tomorrow.

Dunno, but if we've lost 50% of farmers in the last 40 years, and we carry on down the same path for another 40 years........

 

[Highland Mule]

Think the land price would have been £565/ac and would have seemed expensive to those buying at the time.

Otherwise I can believe those stats although I am surprised that dairy output is only up 8% after 40 odd years of genetic improvements and better understanding of cow nutrition. On a cow per cow basis ie comparing a mid 70s cow to a 2019 cow, I would have thought it would be chalk & cheese

With a 45% reduction, that equates to almost exactly a doubling of output per cow (108/55)

 

[Tarw Coch]

Dunno, but if we've lost 50% of farmers in the last 40 years, and we carry on down the same path for another 40 years........

IIRC dairy farmer numbers across England and Wales have halved over the last 15 years and if you look at the growth in farm size in arable I’m surprised farmer numbers are half 40 years ago.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Nowt to do with the cap,exploited by the supermarkets and processors.
Never be much profit in the job anymore now the Irish own most of the killing plants.

Irish are losing £100/ head on beef animals

 

[Poorbuthappy]

With a 45% reduction, that equates to almost exactly a doubling of output per cow (108/55)

I wonder how much inputs have risen in that time?
And of that increase, how much is "self inflicted". Ie changes in management to increase production, but have also resulted increased costs.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Are things going o get any better? If farmers need anything right now it’s a dose of realism rather than jam tomorrow.

Not until a farmer says sorry but no I cant do it for that price , problem is those that do are on a treadmill they cant get off

 

[Wiggins]

Hi, fairly new to the forum, personally I think farm rationalisation is only going one way, and brexit will be the catalyst that puts it in to overdrive. We will competing on a global stage with no subs to hide behind. Farms will either expand rapidly, or the risk averse will just sit on assets and not invest, these will be the last generation of their family to farm, as in time their holding become more and more unviable. Sorry if that upsets some of you, but it is my opinion, and I do hope it does not materialise.
But most of the rationalisation that has happened in the past is not down to the CAP, but rather technology, be it in machinery, atomisation or agrochemicals. Just imagine having to plough 2000 acres with a 2wd ford 4000!!! It has happens because technology has enabled a rapid increase in productivity

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Any one trading with farmers will tell you that the quickest to pay are family farmers who are no heavily borrowed . Medium sized family fams will be here when these over invested super farms are long gone

 

[Wiggins]

I do hope you’re right, as I run a medium sized dairy farm, but I rather doubt it unfortunately.
To be fair, size is relative, we run 200 ish dairy cattle and 220ish replacements and store cattle today, what would you’ve classed that size enterprise 40 yrs ago?

 

[betweenthelines]

Land prices still on the up, new machinery selling well, loads of threads on here about were to go abroad on holiday, what pick up to buy, which bit of kit to buy next.

Doesn't look like farming's in depression to me.

 

[milkloss]

Depends which type of farming you’re into and whether you’re well positioned to glean some extra (potentially huge) enviro payments for doing very little.

 

[7610 super q]

I wonder how many were lost between 1930 - 1970 ?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I do hope you’re right, as I run a medium sized dairy farm, but I rather doubt it unfortunately.
To be fair, size is relative, we run 200 ish dairy cattle and 220ish replacements and store cattle today, what would you’ve classed that size enterprise 40 yrs ago?

There are so many variables in farming
My farm is bought and payed for long ago
Others many may be paying strong rent
If you have family members working at home rather than paying staff
The list is endless

If labour get in and introduce land tax it could finish me
We gave up milk in 1990 . Sold 220 milkers . That was quite big then . In 1960 we milked 30 milkers . That was quite big then

 

[Wiggins]

Our farm is also mostly owned, curtesy of my father and grandfather, only rent a few acres close by from a friend.
I do hope that Labour or any other party will not implement such a tax, but the way things are going at the moment in parliament, nothing would surprise me.
But to get back to the point, I don’t think anything is going to stop the rationalisation of farming, it’s been the way for atleast a centuary and can not see it stopping any time soon.

 

[Wiggins]

There are so many variables in farming
My farm is bought and payed for long ago
Others many may be paying strong rent
If you have family members working at home rather than paying staff
The list is endless

If labour get in and introduce land tax it could finish me
We gave up milk in 1990 . Sold 220 milkers . That was quite big then . In 1960 we milked 30 milkers . That was quite big then

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I cant see sheep and beef farms are farming much differently up here that they were 20 years ago apart from less stock and less land