Farm incomes fall across most sectors – new figures
© Rex The financial pain suffered by farming businesses has been revealed in new figures from Defra.
Farm business incomes (FBI) between March 2014 and February 2015 will have fallen across general cropping, dairy, pigs, poultry and mixed farms.
The forecast uses information on prices, crop areas, livestock numbers and input costs available in January 2015 to give a broad indication of how farm incomes are expected to compare to 2013-14.
The 2014-15 figures are from March 2014 to February 2015 and include the 2014 SFP farm business income.
FBI is the surplus or profit made by a farm business before any unpaid labour is accounted for. For example the FBI made by a family farming partnership provides the cash to pay the partners’ share in place of wages or salary, or the drawings in the case of a sole trader. No rental value is attributed to owner occupied land in calculating FBI.