npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 (npub1g0t…tvm4)
Apologies for my earlier harshness. As you say, you only know the farmers you know; the rich farmers and the absolutely destitute casual labourers might not be in your social circles. If your friends are doing poorly then I'm sorry to hear that and I wish them well.
I can absolutely believe that many small farmers are doing badly. Even before the UK's current economic situation, farms needed to be subsidised in order to exist at all. Once you add that economic situation, I'm surprised that any small farmers aren't struggling.
Statistically, the average farm household made £46,500 in 2020/2021, the most recent year the ONS will give me stats for. (This is after farm expenses but before their own family costs.) They note that this number is likely to rise in 2022 and 2023 due to rising food costs, with dairy farms rising the most at 20-30%. This is about half again the average household income in the UK, and about three times the average household income of the poorest 20% of people in the UK.
So these small farmers are, on average, still significantly better off than most people. This doesn't mean they're not doing badly of course - most people are doing badly - but it means that this is still a better-off group who are better off due to inherited wealth.
But I found something else looking at the stats. You have probably heard this anecdotally, but here is data. According to ONS, 52% of English small farms get a return of less than £1 per every £1 they put in, which is to say that they're actively losing money on the farming. That number goes up to two-thirds getting less than £1.10 back for every £1 they put in, and 90% getting less than £1.40 back for every £1 they put in. (This number has labour factored in, including hours of unpaid labour.)
So while most English farmers are doing comfortably in their household finances, most of their farms are non-viable as businesses. If your friends say "I'd make a better living if I sold up and did something else with my days", then statistically they're likely to be right.
Passenger /
npub1q4…um30y
2023-12-01 09:44:23
in reply to nevent1q…tmde
Author Public Key
npub1q40tdhu27g4rnexmgc3kdlcwkt9uk4zxvsxl0n649aad28pp7eesvum30yPublished at
2023-12-01 09:44:23Event JSON
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"content": "nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 \n\nApologies for my earlier harshness. As you say, you only know the farmers you know; the rich farmers and the absolutely destitute casual labourers might not be in your social circles. If your friends are doing poorly then I'm sorry to hear that and I wish them well.\n\nI can absolutely believe that many small farmers are doing badly. Even before the UK's current economic situation, farms needed to be subsidised in order to exist at all. Once you add that economic situation, I'm surprised that any small farmers aren't struggling.\n\nStatistically, the average farm household made £46,500 in 2020/2021, the most recent year the ONS will give me stats for. (This is after farm expenses but before their own family costs.) They note that this number is likely to rise in 2022 and 2023 due to rising food costs, with dairy farms rising the most at 20-30%. This is about half again the average household income in the UK, and about three times the average household income of the poorest 20% of people in the UK.\n\nSo these small farmers are, on average, still significantly better off than most people. This doesn't mean they're not doing badly of course - most people are doing badly - but it means that this is still a better-off group who are better off due to inherited wealth.\n\nBut I found something else looking at the stats. You have probably heard this anecdotally, but here is data. According to ONS, 52% of English small farms get a return of less than £1 per every £1 they put in, which is to say that they're actively losing money on the farming. That number goes up to two-thirds getting less than £1.10 back for every £1 they put in, and 90% getting less than £1.40 back for every £1 they put in. (This number has labour factored in, including hours of unpaid labour.)\n\nSo while most English farmers are doing comfortably in their household finances, most of their farms are non-viable as businesses. If your friends say \"I'd make a better living if I sold up and did something else with my days\", then statistically they're likely to be right.",
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