Across ‘All Estates’ in England the income derived from all agricultural sources remained steady in 2010 at £64 per acre (£158 per ha) reflecting the current pressures faced by the agricultural industry with falling commodity prices and higher input prices. Our analysis shows that the volatility in the in-hand farming sector contributed to this weakening position.

In 2010 average in-hand farm incomes (net income after deduction of property repairs, insurance, third party rents and interest on borrowed working capital) and contract farming incomes fell back from the highs of the 2009 survey year to £91 per acre (£225 per ha) and £98 per acre (£242 per ha), across all regions and farm types.

Bullish livestock

In contrast, average AHA rents increased 4.4% on ‘All Estates’ during the 2010 survey to £67 per acre (£166 per ha) following an increase of 8% the previous year. The majority of this uplift was in the livestock sector, where average AHA rents on sheep and beef farms rose 10% to £50 per acre (£124 per ha) (see Graph 3 in the gallery).

In contrast, the pressures on dairy profitability reduced average AHA rents in this sector by -2% to average £70 per acre (£173 per ha).

FBT rents increased 2.1% in 2010 to £83 per acre (£205 per ha). The FBT area, as a proportion of the let agricultural area, increased again in 2010 to over 35%. We expect further increases in average agricultural rents going forward, but tempered by the uncertainty about the next round of CAP reform and the current milk price.

Taken from
Estate Benchmarking Survey 2010