Western Morning News (Saturday)
SW contributed most to farming profits in 2020
THE South West has cemented its status as an agricultural powerhouse in the latest Government figures for British farming profitability.
Revised Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) statistics show that in 2020 the Total Income From Farming (TIFF) in England is estimated to have been £3,552 million – a fall of £188 million (5%) from 2019.
As the UK’s largest and most rural region, stretching from the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast to the North Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, the South West made the biggest contribution to TIFF at £682 million (19%), followed by the
East of England at £671 million (18.9%). The North East contributed the least at £128 million (3.6%).
TIFF is the total profit from all farming businesses on a calendar year basis. It measures the return to all entrepreneurs for their management, labour and capital invested.
According to the report, the South West has been in the top three regions for TIFF every year throughout 2010-2020 and the national leader in some years, including 2020. “However, it has the largest farmed area and TIFF per hectare was lower than the England average in every year except for 2017, partly due to the limitations of upland areas” it states.
Dairy production was the South West’s biggest driver in 2020 at £1.1 billion, equating to 31% of the region’s total output and 39% of England’s dairy output.
The SW also had a higher output from plants and flowers – a contributor to the £746 million vegetables, horticulture and potatoes sector – than any other region during 20102020, mostly in Cornwall. Regional output from beef and sheep totalled £598m in 2020, followed by pigs and poultry (£465m), combinable crops/sugar beet (£425m) and diversification (£208m).