Normally I don't allow advertising on this blog. Several foreign exchange dealers and grain merchants have tried to slip in a plug in recent weeks. All have failed!
But I am prepared to make an exception just this once and include a few words about the latest edition of Farmland Market.
OK, it's produced by Farmers Weekly, so I'm not entirely impartial. But the latest edition is a bit special, marking the 35th anniversary of publication. What's more, it's been subject to a complete redesign, under the capable direction of my colleague Ian Ashbridge.
I have to admit, the magazine - which comes out twice a year and is something of "an industry bible" for those involved in the land sector - has not been top of my weekend reading list over the years. (Bike magazine and Trout Fisherman usually take precedence.)
But the new Farmland Market really does deserve a look, containing a variety of new content and a host of valuable statistics, along with a much smarter design.
The editorial includes a detailed look at the land market in 2008, what drove arable prices to £7000/acre and what caused them to ease off later in the year. There is detailed regional breakdown and analysis, a focus on forestry and an overview on the current state of agriculture.
To prove that the editorial team is on-the-ball...
...elements of last week's Budget are covered, including the extension of Agricultural Property Relief to land held outside the UK, and the end to the confusion surrounding rent reviews, caused by last autumn's VAT reduction.
The magazine also takes a forward look at what lies in store for land prices for the rest of 2009.
But for me the most interesting article is from James Laing of Strutt and Parker, which tracks the trends in the land market since the Second World War. As the accompanying graph shows, there has been a dramatic decline in the amount of land coming to market, from a peak of 1m acres sold in 1949 to less than 100,000 acres last year.
And as the supply has gone down, so prices have gone up, dramatically, from about £37/acre after the war to over £6000/acre in 2008.
Within this overall picture the article pulls out a host of factors that have driven the market at various times over the past 60 years. For example, the high turnover of land in the 1950s was due to the fact tax reliefs did not exist and families were forced to sell farms to pay for death duties.
Land prices put on a real burst in the early 1970s, tripling to £500/acre, in response to US President Nixon's decision to start selling grain to the Soviet Union. Accession to the EEC in 1973 and the application of the CAP sustained this increase, though prices stabilised in the 1980 as inflation eased and City investors retreated from the land market. It's fascinating stuff!
OK, it's not cheap. The £95 for two issues suggests it is targeted at chartered surveyors and land agents rather than farmers. But for anyone thinking of buying or selling land, a copy of Farmland Market will give them the market intelligence they would otherwise be missing. More information is available by clicking here
Advert over!
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