The cash-flow crisis in farming

The Royal Countryside Fund commissioned The Andersons Centre in March 2016 to complete snapshot research to gain a greater understanding of the cash-flow pressures at farm level and their impact on the wider agricultural sector.

Through data analysis and a series of telephone interviews with 21 agricultural businesses, an overview of the current situation resulting from the cash-flow challenges in farming and its knock-on effect on the wider rural economy was identified and evaluated.

This research showed that the UK agricultural industry was seeing its third year of declining farm gate prices, and that half of farms were not making a living from farming itself.