British arable farmers are going through a income lack of greater than £800m after one of many worst-ever harvests on file, evaluation exhibits.
Crop manufacturing this yr was hit by the most well liked spring and summer season on file in addition to drought circumstances, leaving farmers with 20% much less income, based on an estimate by the Vitality and Local weather Intelligence Unit (ECIU) thinktank.
The estimated lack of £828m is predicated on researchers “per-hectare yield” figures for wheat, spring and winter barley, oats and oilseed rape and crop space estimates for the UK.
They in contrast present farm gate costs to authorities figures for the 10-year common for manufacturing volumes for the 5 staple crops from 2015-2024, discovering a pointy drop in income.
Farmers noticed a 38.4% decline in income from oilseed rape, a 21.5% decline in milling oat revenues, 19.6% decline in milling wheat revenues and 16.1% in feed wheat, based on the ECIU.
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A banner saying ‘No Farmers, no meals’ and a gas tanker formed like a missile throughout a protest. Pic: Reuters
The provisional setting division (Defra) figures in October discovered 2025 to be the second-worst yr on file for England, with the harvest throughout the UK anticipated to be equally poor.
This yr’s anticipated poor harvest comes following one other one of many worst harvests on file in 2024, which got here after the previous autumn and winter noticed excessive rainfall.
Tom Lancaster, ECIU land, meals and farming analyst, stated: “This has been another torrid year for many farmers in the UK, with the pendulum swinging from too wet to too hot and dry.
“With confidence within the sector at all-time low, there may be an pressing want to make sure farmers are higher supported to adapt to those local weather shocks and construct their resilience because the bedrock of our meals safety.”
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He stated delays to the relaunch of inexperienced farming fee schemes, just like the sustainable farming incentive, “are the last thing the industry needs”.
David Lord, an arable farmer from Essex and member of the Nature Pleasant Farming Community steering group, stated that with near-constant excessive rainfall, warmth and drought in recent times, inexperienced farming schemes “are a vital lifeline for me”.
“But with the schemes closed and no clarity on their future, too many farmers are locked out, unable to access the support they need to adapt whilst facing a wider agriculture policy that does too little to build our resilience and too often works against it,” he added.
A Defra spokesperson acknowledged that there are “challenges” within the sector and climate extremes which have affected harvests.
They added: “We are backing our farmers in the face of a changing climate with the largest nature-friendly farming budget in history to grow their businesses and get more British food on our plates,” they stated.
