Cost of UK farming up

FARMING was a lot more expensive than 18 months ago, despite a significant fall in fuel prices, the Norfolk Farming Conference was told.

Anglia Farmers’ chief executive Clarke Willis outlined the buying group’s latest Agricultural Inflation Index figures. Based on the six months to end of February 2009 it revealed fuel costs had fallen by 17.5 per cent over that period, but overall costs for farming had only dropped by 0.77 per cent.

Inflated figures

“Bear in mind this is from the hugely inflated figures agriculture experienced in the previous 12 months when our index showed the overall costs increased by more than 35 per cent.”

The Anglia Farmers Agricultural Inflation Index, devised by Jim Alston – one of its farmer directors – is based on actual cost change information from the group’s purchasing office on 95 products.

In addition to the overall AF agricultural inflation index, there are five enterprise sectors for combinable crops, potatoes, sugar beet, dairy, and beef and lamb. Each category of farm expenditure has a different influence on the overall inflation figure.