Costs Offset U.K. Farmers’ Profits

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30827, 12 August 1965, Page 8

Costs Offset U.K. Farmers ’ Profits

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, August 9.

In spite of an increase in the average profit of farms in England and Wales, from £895 in 1952 to £1049 in 1963, the average farmer’s profit fell by 10.2 per cent because of the fall in purchasing power.

The figures are based on a sample of nearly 700 farms for which figures for 1962 and 1963 were available. They are included in the results of a National Farmers’ Union survey of incomes. The main survey is based on a sample of 3709 farms for which data was available for both the 1962 and 1963 accounting years. It shows that in 1963 incomes fell from the 1962

figures by an average of 3.5 per cent. The worst hit were farms of more than 300 acres, the average profit of which fell by 14.7 per cent. An analysis reveals that arable farms suffered a 20 per cent fall in income and livestock farms a 10 per cent fall. Dairy farms improved their average income from £666 in 1962 to £731 in 1963. The average income for all types of farms was £952 compared with £987 the previous year. Wage costs in 1963 rose by more than 4 per cent, although recent surveys indicated a tendency for increases in agricultural wages to be offset by a fall in the labour force.