Career Focus - Agriculture

Check out the pay, prospects and talking points of careers in Farming 2008.

The Money

• 2008 Incomes
  According to farm business consultancy, Andersons, farm income and profits could well break the £4bn mark in 2008 – 30% up on estimated figures for 2007. This picture is skewed not a little by a more favourable € / £ exchange rate (the expected weakening of the pound to the euro will also help UK exports rise) and the rise and rise of prices in Arable (up to £120/t-£130/t for harvest 2008/9). Switch to the meat sector, especially poultry, however, and the talk is of breaking even and even exiting the field. In the last 12 months, for instance, according to a survey by the NFU and Poultry World, meat producers had seen costs rise by 4.2p/kg (see THE PROSPECTS below).

Useful link(s)

British Crop Protection Council (BCPC)

British Poultry Council

National Beef Association

National Farmers' Union

National Farmers' Union of Scotland

National Farmers' Union of Wales

National Pig Association

Royal Agricultural Society of England

Rural Payments Agency

Ulster Farmers' Union



• Number of full single payments
  By mid-January two-thirds of farmers in England had already received a full single farm payment, according to the Rural Payments Agency. This represents over 65% of the estimated total 106,700 claimants. But a quick look at the Farmers Weekly single farm payment update forum shows that, even among those who have received it, there is confusion and even, dare we say, cynicism, with users concerned, for instance, about: 1) the degree of transparency (apart from rate per hectares, no way of seeing how the payment is calculated); 2) voluntary modulations (where do they go?); and 3) the apparent promptness of the payouts this year (publicity stunt?). For the third of you who have yet to receive your payment, the RPA has been no more forthcoming on when that will be...
• Farmland values
  If all else fails, you can always play the property card. Farmland values have risen by an average of 30% in the last year, according to Savills, with the average value for all land types now standing at £3,700/acre. Property firm Knight Frank, meanwhile, say that demand (running at 14%) is vastly outstripping supply (running at 8%), and is being boosted by a mix of international buyers (mostly from Denmark and Ireland), institutional investors (attracted by the rise in commodity prices and the increasing attractiveness of biofuels) and lifestyle buyers (who account for a quarter of the market in volume).

The Prospects

• Growing cost cloud
  Incomes may be on the up but so, too, are costs. According to one estimate, pig producers, for instance, need deadweight prices to reach at least 125p/kg during the first six months of 2008 just to keep pace with rising feed costs. Nor will life be too cushy for commodity producers themselves - the much publicised climb in commodity prices are, say commentators, set to be matched or even outstripped by aggressive rises in input prices, principally nitrogen and potash.
• Genetically (un)modified fields
  While the not-exactly-unbiased Monsanto maintains that France is expected to fling its fields open to even more GM during 2008 (the area in France is expected to double from 21,686ha in 2007), the UK is set to remain GM-free, so long as questions of cross-pollination and gene transfer remain unanswered.
• Push for more subsidies post-2013
  While most farmers are enjoying a prompt pay-out of this year’s subsidy, the push is already on for what happens when the current subsidy agreements end in 2013. France is going all out for what is basically an extension of the status quo (no surprise there, then), but the UK is expected to object to any continuation of support payments, and to insist that any future payments are aligned with environmental schemes only. Conservative MEP and current chair of the European Parliament’s agricultural committee, Neil Parish, maintains that there WILL be a payment after 2013, albeit a reduced one.

The Talking Points

Good places to network

Farmers Weekly Forums

National Pig Association Forum

National Beef Association Events

National Farmers' Union Events

Royal Society of Agriculture Events



• 'Battery' bashing If the New Year run of 'exposure' TV food programmes is anything to go by, 2008 could be a difficult one for poultry farmers, especially. Since the airing of Hugh’s Chicken Run and Jamie’s Fowl Dinners on Channel 4 in January, the British Poultry Council has been forced onto the defensive, trying to redress the public’s perception of 'battery'-bred chickens, and defending current UK poultry production policy, placing more pressure on the already cost-pressed poultry sector. It could, however, be good news for the quality end of the market, but it’s too soon to tell if their conscience will push the cost-conscious consumer up from their £2 chuck.
• Milking milk quotas The chips have barely been wrapped in the newspapers announcing the 2% milk quota suggested by the EU Agriculture Commissioner, and already European members are calling for more – or less. Italy apparently wants a 4% quota, the Dutch 3%. And the UK? Unable to reach its current quotas due to a shortage of dairy cows (reportedly 50m litres short in December 2007), the NFU expects the quotas to be phased out, and prefers to start the phase-out now while the markets are buoyant. But a more cautionary note is sounded by the NFU Wales, concerned about the fall-off in Chinese demand.

Top players
Farmers Weekly Awards


• Keeping it legal with migrant workers There are an estimated 300,000 migrant workers employed annually in the farming sector. From 29 February 2008, any employer found employing an illegal worker will face a fine of up to £10k for each illegal worker employed however unwittingly, and an unlimited fine plus a two-year jail sentence if you employed them knowingly. Don’t say you weren’t warned ;)!