Grain growers face poor returns

07 August 1998

Grain growers face poor returns

THE financial returns from last years wheat crop reached an unprecedented low and present and future prospects look worse.

A Home-Grown Cereals Authority Study shows that wheat prices in the early 1970s would be more than £300/ tonne at todays prices. But farmers are actually receiving about £86/ tonne.

It concludes that measuring financial return per hectare provides the best comparison. The HGCAs findings reveal that the average revenue per hectare last year was £860, including direct payments, the lowest in the past 30 years.

• 
  The Scotsman 07/08/98 page 28