SCOTLAND'S total income from farming (TIFF) fell by £111 million to £635m in 2012, a drop of 15% on the previous year, according to the latest figures published by Scotland's Chief Statistician.
A big question mark hangs over the accuracy of the figures, as last year's were revised upwards by £150m, or 25% more than the original forecast.
The forecasted disappointing financial results were blamed on bad weather that hammered farm output, soaring costs and exchange rates that reduced support payment values.
Costs rose £252m (10%) from £2.41 billion in 2010 to £2.66bn in 2011, and by an estimated £46m (3%) to £2.71bn in 2012.
In total, costs of production to Scottish farming are reckoned to be up by almost £300m in 24 months.
The size of European Union farm support payments and subsidies are mainly dependent upon the euro exchange rate applied to them.
The Single Farm Payment decreased only marginally in 2011, but fell by £45m (8%) from £602m in 2011 to £557m in 2012.
BRITISH seed potatoes are grown in more than 50 countries worldwide, with Egypt a long-time major export destination, accounting for around 40% of total seed exported.
Even though GB seed export tonnage is still being calculated for the 2012/2013 season, official statistics confirm that GB is now the EU's leading source of seed potatoes to Egypt.
Exports of British seed have been increasing steadily for the last 10 years, but with last season's challenging conditions, it would not have been a surprise if export quantities had dropped.
However, the opposite has proved to be the case with exports exceeding the 2011/12 season.
Forty-one thousand tonnes have been exported to Egypt so far this season, with figures still increasing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article