New government statistics have revealed that farming incomes in the UK dropped by £800 million in 2023.
Lower commodity price have been blamed for the sharp drop in last year's total agricultural income, Defra said in its new report.
Total Income from Farming (TIFF) - a measure of the performance of the UK agricultural industry - was estimated to be £7.2bn, a fall of £800m (-9.8%) from 2022.
Following historically high commodity prices in 2022, driven by global events, Defra said there were reductions in the commodity prices of key crops and livestock outputs.
This, coupled with a poor harvest in many crop items, was not offset by a reduction in the value of inputs resulting in a substantial reduction in TIFF.
Total livestock output during the course of last year was £19.2 billion, a decrease of £0.1 billion (-0.7%) compare to 2022.
This decrease was driven by a fall in the value of milk (-10.1%) and sheep for meat (-2.7%), the report explained.
Milk farmgate prices fell in 2023 after the historical highs of 2022, driven by an increase in supply in the first half of 2023 and weaker demand.
In 2023, total crop output decreased by £1.3 billion (-9.7%) from 2022, to £12.0 billion, Defra highlighted.
This decrease was driven by a substantial fall in the values of wheat and barley (-28.3% and -25.7% respectively) as well as oilseed rape (-44.9%).
The unit prices of these three crops decreased in 2023 from the historically high prices seen in 2022.
Intermediate consumption decreased by £0.6 billion (-2.8%) from 2022, to £21.1 billion in 2023.
The report said this decrease was primarily driven by a 28.4% decrease in the value of fertilisers.
