Campaign to Protect Rural England Report
https://www.cpre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CPREZUncertainZHarvest.pdf
Summary
The report discussed many forms of diversity – from who farms the land, what and how they produce and its importance to the health and complexity of the countryside. It called for a revitalised farming sector
providing opportunities to encourage new entrants into farming to bring fresh ideas and drive a more dynamic sector.
This paper focuses on diversity in the size of farms and how this may be threatened as farms continue to disappear. The topic of farm size is athorny one. Discussion can polarise opinions. This report seeks to show that this issue goes beyond big versus small. Farming has always played the
central role in making the countryside what it is and the loss of a diversity of farm sizes threatens detrimental consequences for the economic, social and environmental health of the countryside. As our nation’s greatest national asset, the health of the countryside is of concern to the mass of the public who enjoy it and value it accordingly. This makes the loss of diversity of farms an issue that should concern the Government, too, and prompt it to act.
The evidence for loss of farms is hidden in plain view: official statistics show a dramatic decline in the number of farms in England operating commercially. UK data show that we have lost over a fifth of English farms in the past ten years alone. EU statistics paint a worse picture. In particular, the number of farms below 200 hectares is falling. Numbers of intermediate and smaller farms are declining, though smaller farms are the worst affected. If current trends continue, few if any farms under 20ha could be left within a generation while most of those up to 50ha could be gone in two generations. Worse still, the official data may underestimate the extent of change occurring in who manages the land.
A dominant belief is that these losses of farms are inevitable if the industry is to stay productive and competitive. But the scale of loss in England isn’t matched by that in other home nations or EU countries. In some countries, notably Ireland and Scotland, farm numbers have actually grown over the same period. This raises the question of why farm numbers are declining at such a rate in this country. We discuss three key issues. Undoubtedly, farming faces a difficult economic situation. It terms of trade – the price it receives for produce compared to its costs – have worsened over decades. A combination of market factors have left farmers the most vulnerable as food prices have fallen. Secondly, agriculture policy has never sought to address the issue in this country. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), slow to reform, has paid the largest and wealthiest farmers the most, leaving smaller farms the least supported in tough economic times. Despite agri-environment schemes of real worth, policy has focused on production and competition and growth but much at the expense of the economic – and environmental – sustainability of the wider industry. Thirdly, most farms are family businesses, small ones almost always so, and these can be challenged by family events. Succession issues in particular can cause family farms to fold. Smaller businesses too can struggle with the resources to develop and adapt to new circumstances.
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