Long-term decline of Welsh county farms ‘a serious blow’

The long-term decline of Wales’ county farms estate is a serious blow to the aspirations of new entrants to agriculture and progressive farmers, says the Tenant Farmers Association.

Although the most recent data show a minimal change in the area of land let by local authorities year on year, chief executive George Dunn says the country has lost about 5,000 acres over a 10-year period. 

In addition, of the total tenancies currently offered, 61% account for holdings of smaller than 50 acres.

See also: Council tenant tells of flaws in schemes for new entrants

The latest Annual Report on Local Authority Smallholdings in Wales covers 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and was produced by the Welsh government based on statistical information provided by the country’s 22 unitary authorities.

As of 31 March 2020, the total area of land held by local authorities in Wales for smallholding purposes was just over 38,776 acres, of which about 32,371 acres were let as smallholdings with a house and/or buildings.

In comparison, the previous report showed land held by local authorities was just over 38,719 acres, of which about 32,675 acres were let as smallholdings.

The data from the Welsh Agricultural Survey for June 2020 give the total area of farms and common land in Wales as about 4.7m acres, meaning the smallholdings account for about 1% of the land.

Land

The authorities recorded as owning the most land were Powys (10,717 acres), Isle of Anglesey (6,155 acres), Pembrokeshire (5,118 acres), Carmarthenshire (3,445 acres) and Gwynedd (2,997 acres) – the same top five as the previous year.

The councils with the least land were Cardiff (45 acres), Bridgend (99 acres), Merthyr Tydfil (102 acres), Vale of Glamorgan (120 acres) and Caerphilly (252 acres) – also the same as in the preceding report.

Rhondda Cynon Taff reported owning no land for the second year in a row, and Ceredigion was also included in the report with zero acres, despite the 2019 report stating it owned about 700 acres.

According to the supplied data, no authorities acquired land during these 12 months, matching the previous period.

Meanwhile, eight authorities disposed of a total of 507 acres for £7.6m:

• Caerphilly 5.6 acres, £650
• Carmarthenshire 20 acres, no price recorded
• Conwy 83 acres, £631,220
• Denbighshire 12 acres, £350,000
• Flintshire 108 acres, £975,000
• Monmouthshire 242 acres, £1,569,250
• Pembrokeshire 20 acres, £757,000
• Powys 18 acres, £3,348,500.

The other 14 authorities were recorded as having no activities during the year.

In 2019, six councils (Denbighshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Powys and Wrexham) disposed of 300 acres for £5.2m.

Tenancies

During the period covered by the report, local authorities in Wales provided 949 smallholdings (978 in 2019), of which 580 (618) were smaller than 50 acres.

There were 228 (225 in 2019) holdings between 50 and 100 acres and 141 (135) were larger than 100 acres.

There were 850 tenants (886 in 2019), some renting multiple farms, with 947 (913) tenancies across 949 (978) holdings.

Of these, 434 (436 in 2019) were farm business tenancies, 202 (208) were Agricultural Holdings Act tenancies and 311 (269) were other tenancies. 

During 2019-20 there were 202 new tenancies granted: 10 to new entrants and 192 to existing tenants.

Of the 54 tenancies terminated, 31 were terminated by Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council.

The previous year, 229 new tenancies were granted (15 to new entrants and 214 to existing tenants), while 55 tenancies were ended.

For 2020, the revenue account of smallholdings authorities in Wales showed a total income of £4,400,384 against a total expenditure of £1,354,975, giving an operational surplus of £3,045,409.

This was up on the 2019 total income of £3,993,145 and operational surplus of £1,818,329.