CLAIRE TAYLOR

TOTAL FARM income in Scotland has fallen by £57 million in 2018, with the rising cost of both labour and feed cited as major factors affecting returns.

The national statistics report released this week showed that TFI has fallen from £729 million in 2017 to £672 million last year, while the cost of feed has been estimated to have risen by £74 million and labour costs by £26 million.

However, there were some reassuring figures, with barley and milk witnessing an increase in value. Despite the dry summer impacting on harvest, prices were good and barley output was estimated to have risen £58million to £312 million. The dairy sector saw an increase in production and a small increase in price resulting in milk output being worth £402 million, up £29 million on 2017.

NFU Scotland’s milk policy manager George Jamieson commented on the findings: “The figures show a welcome rise in dairy output, due to higher production and modest but welcome price increases.

“However, we don’t want or need to lose more dairy farmers from the sector,” he continued. “Dairy is a high investment sector, which is increasingly vulnerable to volatility in input and output prices, which is compounded by uncertain weather patterns, and a powerful, competitive supply chain, hence the challenges remain for those who are still in the industry,” he stressed.

The livestock sector has seen small gains from the beef and sheep industry, with prices rising for beef slightly in 2018, and the sheep sector seeing another year of price rises with output worth £234 million.

Potatoes have dropped 5% in their value, but the overall vegetable sector has seen little change standing at £140 million. Fruit has seen a small increase to £140 million but growth has slowed down since the large increase a few years ago.

Commenting on these statistics, Scottish Liberal Democrat rural economy spokesperson Mike Rumbles said: “Instead of supporting and nurturing agricultural industries, our governments in both Edinburgh and London have created a hostile environment for farm businesses in Scotland.

“Bad weather and increasing overheads may be beyond the control of Ministers but three years of incompetent handling and delays to rural support payments by the Scottish Government and chaos in Westminster over Brexit has only made matters worse,” he said. “Uncertainty about the future is stifling growth in our rural economy and harming rural communities. The SNP and Tories are completely distracted but these damaging figures need to be a wake-up call for Ministers about the serious issues facing our rural industries."

NFU Scotland made the point that the TFI figures were aggregate measures for Scottish agriculture as a whole, and therefore masked the performance of different sectors and individual businesses and farms.

“Farm outputs have increased across the board with farmers and crofters facing significantly increased costs on a range of supplies, including feed and bedding for livestock, as the industry still feels the long-term effects of 18 months of bad weather," said the union.

“There is not much we can do about the weather, but what today’s figures show is there is a clear need for political clarity and cohesion in order to steady an unpredictable market and a lack of confidence, created by the uncertainty of the current political climate.”

For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk