Is there a future for the small family farm? A report to The Prince’s Countryside Fund

Abstract

Foreword Over the last two or three decades, the farms which populate the landscape of the United Kingdom and have shaped its topography through centuries, have experienced profound change, and whatever the consequences of the European referendum decision will continue to do so. Their resilience has been continually tested. Notwithstanding the challenges of policy and paperwork, they have also had to deal with the day-to-day demands of farming: price volatility, disease and climate change, and a public increasingly unfamiliar with an agrarian lifestyle. Not surprisingly, many are struggling. A recent report for The Prince’s Countryside Fund demonstrated that half of all farms no longer make a living from farming itself and a fifth are losing money before even accounting for family labour. Does this matter? The Prince's Countryside Fund believes it does and that is why we commissioned this wide-ranging and in-depth report from Professors Michael Winter and Matt Lobley of the University of Exeter and their team, to whom I offer my thanks for their hard work and dedication. The Fund has a track record of providing practical help to farming businesses and the rural community through its grant giving, direct action projects and advocacy, supported by a strong network of business supporters and committed individuals. This report will focus our efforts and, we hope, those of our agricultural institutions and policy makers. The report concludes with a series of recommendations which The Fund believes will be vital for farm businesses, and a catalyst for action for the agricultural sector and policy makers in order to retain the wonderful mosaic of farm types we have in the UK. In the uncertain times ahead we fervently hope that it will allow this particular “endangered species” to be given the best possible opportunity to survive and to thrive for many generations to come.

Lord Curry of Kirkharle - Chairman, The Prince’s Countryside Fund