Analysis: Who owns Britain’s farmland?

Land is a finite resource, offering relatively stable, long-term growth, hedging and wealth preservation opportunities.

But there has been a changing picture of ownership over the past 100 years, directing many of those benefits into the hands of a select group of stakeholders.

The biggest driver for this was the introduction of supportive food and farming policies after the Second World War, according to property specialist Savills.

See also: Splitting a farm business: Tax, legal and practical matters

Greater profitability and stability attracted investors, both domestic and foreign, to UK land, replacing some of the more traditional landlords such as royalty and the church.

In more recent decades, the shift towards environmentalism and conservation has served to increase the appeal of land again.

So of the UK’s 60m acres, who owns what?

It’s suprisingly hard to get a definitive answer, and there are some unknowns, including exactly how much of the countryside is farmed – although large owners will naturally own and work swathes of farmland.

Author and campaigner Guy Shrubsole has done much to clarify the situation.

Biggest land owners

According to his research, land ownership is dominated by the aristocracy, who hold almost one-third of the area.

Next come large corporations, which may have invested in land for its tax-saving opportunities, followed by tycoons and the public sector.

In comparison, the Crown and the Church of England now hold less than 2% of the area between them – similar to the area held by charities.

Within this area, figures suggest a small number of individuals, charities and companies own huge swathes of land. About 12% of the UK land area or 7.2m acres is in the hands of the top 50 owners.

As the top 10 below shows, royalty and titled gentry still account for large acreages of the UK.

Included in their ranks, but just outside the top 10 in 11th place overall is the Duchy of Cornwall with its 135,000 acres – recently passed from King Charles III to his eldest son, William.

Private investors

Within this list only one private investor – Anders Holch Povlsen – nudges shoulders with the establishment, UK government, charities and organisations.

But private investors do loom large in the top 50, so we’ve broken out the top five UK and foreign entrepreneurs below.

Top five British investors

1. (15th overall) John Whittaker (70,000 acres) A billionaire and chairman of property business the Peel Group.
2. (25th overall) James Dyson (33,000 acres) An inventor, investor and entrepreneur, Sir James created the sustainable agriculture firm Beeswax Dyson Farming.
3. (38th overall) John Clark (18,119 acres) Bought Featherstone Castle and estate in Northumberland with his father, Colonel John Clark, in 1961.
4. (39th overall) Family of Michael Stone (18,000 acres) Michael Stone was a sugar trader who held ownership rights of the Weardale and Egglestone moors in County Durham. The estate has since been passed to his wider family.
5. (42th overall) Michael Cannon (16,001 acres) The former poultry farmer bought the Wemmergill Estate in County Durham from the Queen Mother’s Bowes-Lyon family in 2006.

Top five foreign investors

1. (7th overall) Anders Holch Povlsen (218,364 acres) Denmark’s richest man is the largest individual foreign private landowner in the UK.
2. (19th overall) Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (63,000 acres) Vice-president, prime minister and minister of defence of the United Arab Emirates, and ruler of Dubai.
3. (23th overall) Robert Warren Miller (36,000 acres) US sailing champion and founder of Duty Free Shop.
4. (27th overall) Zambrano family (25,340 acres) Owners of Cemex, the world’s second-largest buildings materials company.
5. (28th overall) Count Luca Rinaldo Contardo Padulli Di Vighignolo (25,000 acres) Director of Albanwise, which grows cereals, leguminous crops and oilseeds, and has property interests through its subsidiary, Wallace Estates Group.

While the UK’s top landowners have considerable acreages, the world’s largest hold mind-boggling areas. 

The list is headed by the Catholic Church and a Chino-Russian farming venture, thereafter it is dominated by a string of Australian farmers.