Tenanted sector key to farming future
The Tenant Farmers Association is using its presence at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show to highlight the importance of the tenanted sector in agriculture to the future of the farming industry and the need to ensure that Government policy takes the intricacies of landlord tenant relationships into account in the development of new policy.
TFA National Vice-Chairman, Stephen Wyrill said "the tenanted sector is responsible for farming at least one third of the agricultural area of England and Wales. In addition, the TFA is aware of a significant amount of informal letting arrangements where rent changes hands on the basis of little more than a hand shake. Adding this together with the formally recorded tenanted sector could bring the total amount of land farmed by non-owners under some form of tenancy agreement to around 40% of the total agricultural area of England and Wales. It is therefore a very significant constituency of interest in its own account".
"By separating the functions of land ownership and land management farm tenancies allow individuals to focus on their specific expertise. Landowners concerned about long-term capital values and sustainable land use can articulate those aspirations through the terms of the tenancy agreements they seek to agree with farm tenants, and tenants can in turn use their business acumen and farming skills to invest in and use the land to create profit from which they are able to pay a sustainable rent," said Mr Wyrill.
"Agricultural tenancies provide liquidity to the most fixed factor of production in agriculture – land. Farm businesses looking to expand or contract can use the flexibility of agricultural tenancies to meet their objectives without having to be concerned about issues of land ownership. Also for the vast majority of individuals who would seek to enter the industry, agricultural tenancies remain the only viable route available to them. Whilst share farming, share partnership and contract farming arrangements are all helpful at the margin, it is only within the security of an agricultural tenancy that farm businesses, without access to owned land, can become established, remain sustainable and improve.
"In view of the importance of tenant farms the TFA is concerned that those who develop Government policy for agriculture unconsciously assume that all farmers are owner-occupiers and are able to make their own decisions about how to respond to Government schemes and initiatives. However, for those farming as tenants, decisions have to be made within a more complex set of circumstances. How the tenant farmer responds to policy will have much to do with the impact of tenancy legislation, the framework of the tenancy agreement in place and the ongoing relationship with the owner of the land being farmed. It is essential that the Government takes this into account," said Mr Wyrill.
