Smaller farms ‘in danger of vanishing by 2050’
CPRE calls for new funds model to help after Brexit
YORKSHIRE IS rapidly losing its network of smaller farms – with plots of fewer than 50 hectares on course to disappear almost entirely from the countryside by the middle of the century, according to a new report.
Overall, a fifth of English farms have disappeared in the past 10 years, but the rate is fastest among the smallest farms which have come under great strain from the competition posed by bigger commercial farms and the pressures of an increasingly global marketplace for their produce.
According to official government statistics, nationally almost a third of farms under 50 hectares disappeared between 2005 and 2015 – and the trend is particularly sharp in Yorkshire, where 58 per cent of small farms have been lost in the same period, from 15,392 small farms to 6,459 at the end of the decade.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) today publishes its Uncertain Harvest report to warn the Government that it must work out how any new funding models for British agriculture outside of the European Union can help farms of all sizes become economically and environmentally sustainable.
CPRE believes that a mix of farm sizes and enterprises is crucial to maintaining England’s world-renowned landscapes and diversity of food.
It maintains that as part of this mix, smaller farms are vital to the countryside as they sustain rural communities through jobs and protect distinctive local character, and in their diversity of approaches, they create greater diversity in food production and conservation, both of which shape rural heritage and rural economies.
But CPRE is warning that should the current decline of the small farm continue, farms under 50 hectares could all but disappear from the English countryside by 2050. Graeme Willis, food and farming campaigner at the national charity, said: “There is a silent crisis in the farming sector. Smaller farms struggle to compete in the current market and, if the current trends continue, they could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.
“While it is not a case of small versus big, smaller farms are vital to the diversity of our rural communities and our beautiful landscapes. (Environment Secretary) Michael Gove has made positive statements about moving towards rewards for public goods and environmental benefits. We must use this platform to help all farms become economically and environmentally sustainable.”
To help smaller farmers succeed, the Government must research the health of the farming sector and assess the impact of any new funding model, he said. Currently, under the EU payments model, the value of direct support payments paid to farmers is based on farm size. Mr Willis said: “Smaller farmers should be given a strong voice in the distribution of local funding.”
SMALLER FARMS form the backbone of farming in Yorkshire but they are finding it ever more challenging to compete because of the volatility of increasingly global markets, the National Farmers’ Union has warned.
The county has lost 58 per cent of its small farms – those running to less than 50 hectares – in just 10 years, according to the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
And it has today claimed that by 2050, most small farms will have been lost entirely from the countryside unless the Government delivers post-Brexit farming policies that are economically and environmentally sustainable for farm businesses of all sizes.
In its new report, the CPRE says the future structure of public funding will likely determine the future of many smaller and struggling farms.
That funding formula will be so pivotal, the CPRE reasons, because there is great strain on smaller farms, not least through market pressures, with supermarkets now in control of 90 per cent of the UK’s retail market and forcing down prices.
Adam Bedford, the NFU’s regional director, said it was vital smaller farms had a future.
He said: “Across Yorkshire, many of our members face the challenge of running farm businesses that could be considered marginal – smaller farms, upland farms and tenant farms where it can be especially difficult to compete and ride the rollercoaster of increasingly global markets. The reality is that many of these are the backbone of farming in our part of the world.
“As a result, in this region we understand the importance of developing a new approach to agriculture policy – one that helps encourage diversity and innovation and recognises the contribution of all farm businesses – not just to the economy but to rural communities and society.
“I’d like to think we could be creative in building a farming industry that can accommodate different farm types and sizes – recognising that smaller enterprises can punch above their weight given the right operating environment.”
Farms in the Yorkshire Dales have grown increasingly bigger in the past generation, said Carl Lis, chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
He said: “Some small farms have shut because they can’t achieve the necessary economies of scale. We’ve also seen the rise of ‘lifestyle farmers’ – people who might buy a farm but let out much of the land to other farm businesses.
“When farm businesses shut, the knock-on effects on a parish’s population – and therefore services – can be devastating. That’s why our aspiration and ambition is to maintain the number of farm holdings in the Yorkshire Dales National Park at its current level of nearly 1,100.
“We think that one way to do that would be to introduce a locally designed and locally delivered farm payment scheme when Britain leaves the EU and decides its own agricultural policy. This could better reward Dales farmers for the environmental benefits they produce, and lessen some of the pressures they face to expand or farm more intensively.”
But the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) warned “commercial reality” had driven the decline in small farm numbers and that this would continue. Dorothy Fairburn, the CLA’s regional director, said: “There is no simple solution, but there is a recognition across the industry that the system of current farming support payments are flawed, and in need of a complete overhaul.”
The CLA is calling for ‘land management contracts’ to reward farmers for managing land in a way that delivers public benefits, instead of a system dictated by the amount of land owned.
When a farm shuts, the knock-on effects can be devastating. Carl Lis, chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
DOES THE Government want small farms to survive and thrive – or would Ministers prefer the rolling fields of Yorkshire to become incongruous housing estates that lack aesthetic appeal? This is the fundamental question which goes to the heart of today’s perturbing report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England on the economic fragility of those farms fighting for their very financial future.
The very essence of England’s green and pleasant land, more than a third of farms under 50 hectares in size went out of business between 2005 and 2015. If this trend continues, the CPRE claims that they could all be lost to the country by the middle of the century. Yet, while the pricing policies being pursued by the major supermarkets is exacerbating this crisis, there’s still a sense that the Government does not truly appreciate its scale – or repercussions.
Not only is it the smaller farms that produce the niche meat and food that has thrown a lifeline to the agriculture industry thanks to awareness campaigns about the provenance of family meals, but their careful stewardship of the countryside – in spite of financial and time pressures – provides the picture postcard scenery which is so alluring to visitors and tourists alike.
This is not the first report to issue such a stark warning. Many others have done so in recent weeks and their cumulative effect places Environment Secretary Michael Gove under even greater pressure as he looks to reform farm subsidies ahead of Britain’s planned exit from the EU.
Three things need to happen before housing developers have the chance to pounce. First, Mr Gove’s subsidy system should, at the very least, recognise the value of small farms – current arrangements do not. Second, the rural economy must not be excluded from ongoing debates about regional devolution – it matters to Yorkshire. And, finally, consumers should continue to support local producers and challenge those supermarkets who could, and should, be doing more.
It’s going to require a collective effort like no other to save Britain’s farms – and countryside – and it will only happen if farmers, politicians and consumers come together in the national interest.