Even Greeks beat UK farm incomes

The latest round of official farming statistics from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) showed that farming incomes in the UK fell by 5.3 per cent last year, with only Greece, Belgium, Finland, Malta, Cyprus and Denmark enjoying a growth in incomes last year.

Overall farming incomes in the European Union dropped by 11.6 per cent, with Hungary and Ireland the two worst-affected countries.

The decline in the UK is borne out by falls in prices paid to farmers in many sectors of agriculture.

Overall, there have been decreases in price for livestock, potatoes, barley, wheat feed, chickens and milk, with prices for the latter down 3.5 per cent on 2009. Dealing with overheads is something farmers have become more than accustomed to in recent years. Red diesel marginally increased during 2009 to 51.1 pence per litre while NPK fertiliser ran at a cost that was 3.3 per cent higher than in 2009. Industry experts are predicting that this price will continue to push upwards in 2010 due to reduced stocks following on from 18 months of volatility in the market.

All of this translated into a rise in food prices of just under one per cent compared to a year ago.

A spokesman said: "Food prices rose throughout 2008 to a peak last February and have been stable ever since."

The statistics reveal a good year of prices for the nation's sheep farmers who saw a 9.5 per cent increase compared with last year with prices for deadweight at around 387 pence per kilogramme.

Looking ahead the total wheat availability in the UK is now estimated to be at 18.2 million tonnes for the year, higher than previous estimates but still 10 per cent lower than seen in 2008/09. The Defra statistics claim that demand from the UK flour milling industries has led to an increase in wheat imports this year. Barley supplies are forecasted to be eight million tonnes.

The total amount of lamb and sheep in the UK fell 3.8 per cent to 9.9 million, a decline partially attributable to the decrease seen in the country's breeding flock – a downward trend stemming back more than five years.

In terms of animals the number of cattle and calves seen in the UK there was a marginal increase of one per cent to just under five million. The national breeding herd remains unchanged at 1.9 million while the country's dairy herd decreased by one per cent. The national pig herd also increased, albeit marginally, by 1.3 per cent to 3.8 million.

Despite the decline in herd size the level of milk production in the UK remained unchanged due to increases in yields from cows.

Despite the continued gloom surrounding dairy Nick Holt-Martyn, director of The Dairy Group, sounded a note of optimism in his latest appraisal of the industry.

He said: "With cool weather forecasts until mid-summer, EU as well as UK production should remain weak, helping to lift market returns.

"The improved performance of milk processors and the widening gap with market returns should deliver a milk price increase soon."