The latest data from Defra shows that incomes fell in 2023/24 for all types of farm, with the exception of specialist pig or poultry enterprises.
Farm Business Income (FBI) for cereal farms fell by 73% to £39,400 after two years of exceptionally high figures. For general cropping farms, average income was 24% lower at £95,300, with both falls attributed to a combination of lower output prices and yields.
Horticultural farms saw their average FBI drop by 38% compared to the previous year. Between March 2023 and February 2024, the average horticulture farm income fell to £59,100, underscoring ongoing challenges faced by the sector, including price pressures, high input costs and labour shortages, as well as post-Brexit trading challenges.
Defra warned that average values mask the considerable variability in incomes at the farm level, both between and within farm types. In 2023/24, 30% of farms failed to make a profit (compared to 17% of farms in 2022/23). However, the proportion was higher for some types, such as cereals, lowland grazing livestock, mixed and horticulture.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw warned that the data “paints a stark picture” of the challenges facing many farmers. “When these figures were first estimated back in March 2024, we said that we needed a government that would create policies to support British agriculture and help farmers and growers to build financial resilience into their businesses,” he said. “Profitable farm businesses are essential if we are to deliver what the country needs; food security, with food produced to world leading standards and environmental protection.
“Instead, we have seen the opposite. The recent Budget announcing changes to Agriculture Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) have left farmers reeling. It threatens our food security and with the compounded impact of National Insurance and National Living Wage changes, it threatens to push up food prices for consumers.”
CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), Martin Lines, added, “After two extraordinary years of higher-than-usual farm business incomes for many in the sector, the relative drop in income revealed by these statistics, particularly for cereal and dairy farmers, is concerning. While there are multiple reasons for this, from global conflict to climate change to systemic issues within the food system, it hammers home that one of the biggest problems farming faces is lack of profitability for the goods and services farmers provide.
“Farmers need fair, just and joined-up treatment by the government to tackle this, including fairer prices for their produce and better treatment across supply chains, along with international trade deals that don’t undercut them by allowing imports from countries with lower welfare and environmental standards. Farmers also deserve to be properly recompensed for all the public goods their land provides – like flood defences and habitat restoration.”
