Britains hill farmers earn 80p/hour
29 November 1999
Britain’s hill farmers earn 80p/hour
By FWi staff
BRITAINS hill farmers would be financially better off serving fast food in Mcdonalds restaurants, according to new statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Overall farm incomes will be “broadly unchanged” this year, but hill farmers incomes will slump to about 80p an hour for 1999/2000, according to MAFF figures.
Total income from the whole of UK farming will drop 1.5% in real terms during 1999 to £2.25 billion, compared with £2.28bn last year, predicts a MAFF forecast.
But UK hill farmers will see their net farm incomes drop by a massive 35% to £2000 per farm in 1999/2000 – equivalent to about 80p/hour for a 48-hour week.
The new figures mean that the average hill farmer would be better off working for Mcdonalds, which pays its employees more than the minimum wage of £3.60 an hour.
Net farm income is the management and investment income, less paid management, plus the value of the manual labour of the farmer and his wife.
Total income from farming doubled between 1990 and 1995 before falling back by over 60% between 1995 and 1999, according to MAFF statistics.
Overall income per full-time agricultural worker rose by £100 to £9900 in 1999 because the slump in earnings across the sector was offset by people leaving the industry.