The best and worst performing pig farms in the UK have highlighted a huge gap by new figures from the Farm Business Survey.
The average pig farm income in England was £21,600 in 2015/16 but this masked massive variation, according to the Farm Business Survey, which has released its annual Pig Production in England report.
Farms in the top 25% performance category earned an average of £122,200 in 2015/16, compared with an average loss of £59,800 in the worst performing category, meaning the gap between the best and worst performers was around £180,000.
However, the gap is closing and actually fell by £30,500, a drop of 14% on the previous year, according to the report.
The middle 50% recorded average incomes of £10,600.
Producers across the performance categories battled with falling pig prices and rising costs last year, as incomes fell by an average of 56% in 2016, with some of the top performing farm businesses being hit hardest.
'Urgent modelling work'
The Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) has advocated 'urgent' modelling work to be carried out to assess the potential impact of leaving the EU with no deal on the agricultural sector.
The union has asked how many businesses will go out of business, how many jobs will be lost and how much money the rural economies will be losing out on.
FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “The recent Annual Farm Business Survey tells us that the average farm business income dropped by 23% to £22,000 in 2015-16 compared to the previous year. If we have the nightmare scenario of no access to EU markets that means that, for example, sheep meat producers will lose 35-40% of their market overnight.”
