Do farmers see the glass half empty or half full?

The results from a survey of 6532 farmers, conducted by the National Farm Research Unit (NFRU), reveals that 32% of all farmers interviewed said that they felt more optimistic about the future of their business than they did a year ago. But 46% said that they felt neither more optimistic nor pessimistic, with the remaining 22% of farmers interviewed saying they were less optimistic than last year.

The National Farm Research Unit asked over six and a half thousand farmers if they felt more optimistic about the future of their business than they did a year ago. "Although the middle ground of neither optimistic nor pessimistic was the main category throughout, it was interesting that around one-third of all farmers felt more optimistic than last year - seeing the glass half full, rather than half empty," says Jim Williams of the NFRU.

Jim Williams points out that there were significant differences between enterprise types, with 40% of sheep farms and 35% of beef enterprises being more optimistic now than a year ago. "The beef and sheep sectors appeared to be particularly buoyant, probably reflecting the better prices and market conditions. In the arable sector 30% of farmers said that they were feeling more optimistic, which is positive. But the dairy sector, which has been suffering from a number of problems of prices and distribution issues recently, has taken a downturn, with just 16% of dairy farmers being interviewed saying that they felt more optimistic and 37% being less so."

"There were also some interesting regional variations, with 39% of farmers in Wales and 37% of farmers in Scotland expressing optimism compared with the same time last year, higher than in any other region. Farmers in the South west, the West Midlands and in Yorkshire and Humberside Regions were more optimistic than the average across the country (34-33% of farms). The regions that appeared to be suffering the most were Northern Ireland, and Southern Ireland."

For further information or comment, please contact:Jim Williams, Marketing and Communications Director of Precision Prospecting on 01728 622500 or by email at jim.williams@nfru.co.uk

To see more about the NFRU, please see the new web site at http://www.nfru.co.uk