British farmers 'feeling less optimistic' about the future, new survey shows

Britain’s farmers are generally feeling less optimistic about the future than they did in 2016, according to a new survey.

The findings, undertaken by a group of accountancy firms called MHA, are based on interviews with over 100 farmers from across the country.

Over the longer term, optimism has steadily reduced, dropping from 70% - 49%.

However, farmers felt a positivity 'blip' during January this year, which was attributed to the fall in sterling pushing up the price of agricultural produce.

Concerns about pricing was slightly less of an issue this year (down from 44% in 2016 to 33%), but cash-flow remains a problem for 32% of farmers interviewed.

The survey asked farmers about “Making Tax Digital”, and the results showed that 42% had not heard of it, although implementation of the controversial plan has since been pushed back to 2020.

Concerns relating to succession planning remain the same as in previous years, which indicate that inheritance problems are being stored up with little or no preventative action being taken by the current generation.

David Missen, head of the MHA Agriculture Group, commented: “It looks very much as if uncertainties over Brexit and the economic position generally are starting to have an impact on farmers' optimism for the future, despite the fact that commodity prices are higher than they were a year ago.

“The next few years could see some seismic changes in the industry as the whole future of support mechanisms is reviewed. Every business should be looking at succession, cash flow and efficiency with this in mind and fortunately the survey indicates that many are now doing just that."

However, amidst the negativity some farmers might be feeling, new projected figures show the outlook for UK farm profitability in 2018 to be better than it has been for some years.