Does farming still appeal to young people?

A government survey has confirmed my view that farming does not appeal to young people with no family background in the industry.

DEFRA announced last week the results of their annual Farm Business Survey which began to collect data about farm business succession arrangements in 2013/14. The survey gathers information from a sample of around 1,900 farmers on the financial position and physical and economic performance of farm businesses in England.

The data is then weighted to represent all farm businesses that have an output of at least 25,000 euros a year. There are about 58,000 such businesses in England.

The key findings of this first survey on succession are:

• Just over a third (37 per cent) of farm businesses had a nominated successor and unsurprisingly the vast majority of these businesses will continue within the family.
• Of the other business that responded, 29 per cent said it was too early in family or business circumstances to answer who would become the nominated successor. This response was most common for farmers under 40 years of age which can hardly be surprising as they probably have only just succeeded their father.
• A further 27 per cent of farm businesses said they had no nominated successor. This response was most likely for spare and part-time farms and for sole traders.
• Only six per cent of the nominated successors would be new to farming.

This latter finding is perhaps the most telling and one that politicians and farm leaders need to heed. Whenever I go to talks where government ministers or policy makers are present, there always seems to be emphasis on how to get “new entrants” in to farming.

This is largely pie in the sky and although it is perfectly possible for college leavers to become farm workers or farm managers, I think the chances of a person who does not come from a farming background, becoming a full-time farmer in their own right is slim and the results of this survey bear this out.

I am not saying that there is no chance of a new entrant developing a career in agriculture, but building up an owner occupied or even tenanted farming business in one’s own right is very difficult unless one has the resources of an existing farming business behind you or the availability of a lot of capital from outside farming.

Perhaps the emphasis should be more on how to ensure the next generation of successors to our existing farming businesses are best trained and equipped to tackle the economic challenges that lie ahead, rather than encouraging new entrants to enter a world where in reality the opportunities in mainstream farming are contracting rather than expanding.  

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk