Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture 2011 Edition

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Specialist Sheep ( LFA)

FBI increased by £13,639 (84 per cent) from £16,268 in 2008/09 to £29,907 in 2009/10. This was due to increases in outputs of £13,926, subsidies and payments of £7,826 and income from diversified activity of £1,792. These outweighed the increase in input costs of £9,905. It should be noted that the average size of Specialist Sheep farms in the sample increased by 117 hectares (23 per cent) which will impact on the trends between years.

In 2009/10, sheep output on Specialist Sheep ( LFA) farms increased by £8,004 (37 per cent) from £21,831 in 2008/09 to £29,835 in 2009/10. This reflects the strong prices for store and finished sheep as the average number of ewes increased by 2 per cent.

The average value of grants and subsidies increased by £7,826 (26 per cent) from £29,911 in 2008/09 to £37,737 in 2009/10. This increase was mainly due to a £6,935 increase in Single Farm Payment, due to the favourable exchange rate in September 2009. LFASS payments also saw an increase of £1,036 (16 per cent) which is partly due to the larger average farm size in the sample in 2009/10.

The increase in input costs was caused primarily by increases in the average land and building costs, machinery and fuel and machinery depreciation. Land and Building Costs increased by £2,385 (29 per cent) to £10,533. Machinery costs and fuel increased by £1,988 (24 per cent) to £10,210 and Machinery Depreciation increased by £1,770 (27 per cent) to £8,243.

Income from diversified activity increased from £4,190 in 2008/09 to £5,982 in 2009/10. This increase is due to both an increase in the number of Specialist Sheep farms recording diversified activity and also an increase in the average income from these activities. Further details are provided later in a separate section on diversification.

Chart B4(b): Selected outputs and inputs, Specialist Sheep ( LFA)

Chart B4(b): Selected outputs and inputs, Specialist Sheep (LFA)

Table B4(b): Average cropping and stocking, output, inputs, and Farm Business Income by type of farm: Specialist Sheep ( LFA) 1

Type of farm: Specialist Sheep ( LFA) 1

Small

Medium

Large

All Sizes

Number of farms in sample

5

3

4

8

28

30

37

41

2008-09

2009-10

2008-09

2009-10

2008-09

2009-10

2008-09

2009-10

Average size of business ( SLR)

1.3

"

"

2.4

4.9

5.4

2.4

2.6

Average size of farm (hectares)

175

"

"

487

1,303

1,793

507

624

Number of ewes

269

"

"

573

1,034

1,078

525

537

Number of suckler cows

2

"

"

0

14

15

5

5

Number of other cattle

10

"

"

13

21

22

12

10

Average output £ per farm

Crops: Cereals

0

"

"

0

29

242

8

70

Potatoes

0

"

"

0

0

0

0

0

Other crops

614

"

"

1,015

440

1,011

571

1,888

Total crop output

614

"

"

1,015

469

1,253

579

1,957

Livestock: Cattle

3,040

"

"

2,463

5,852

6,842

3,480

4,370

Sheep

17,078

"

"

23,998

32,563

45,256

21,831

29,835

Pigs

0

"

"

0

0

0

0

0

Poultry

0

"

"

0

0

0

0

0

Milk

0

"

"

0

0

0

0

0

Other livestock

20

"

"

-100

-164

-156

-34

-57

Total livestock output

20,139

"

"

26,361

38,251

51,941

25,277

34,149

Miscellaneous

16,725

"

"

1,328

2,925

3,392

11,048

14,724

Total Output

37,477

"

"

28,704

41,645

56,586

36,904

50,830

Subsidy and Payments

19,045

"

"

33,722

55,039

69,911

29,911

37,737

(of which LFASS)

(2,788)

"

"

(7,261)

(14,295)

(17,367)

(6,379)

(7,415)

(of which SFP)

(12,896)

"

"

(21,462)

(33,258)

(45,355)

(18,957)

(25,892)

Average inputs - £ per farm

Feed

8,981

"

"

5,682

14,473

17,051

10,044

10,585

(of which home produced)

(0)

"

"

(00)

(41)

(104)

(11)

(30)

Other livestock expenses

4,573

"

"

7,170

10,308

12,266

6,416

7,827

Seeds

55

"

"

89

222

486

128

150

(of which home grown)

(0)

"

"

(0)

(0)

(0)

(0)

(0)

Fertilisers

1,528

"

"

1,537

2,291

3,092

1,819

3,441

Other crop expenses

153

"

"

303

366

605

212

521

Labour

580

"

"

2,080

11,994

10,702

3,869

3,324

Machinery costs and fuel

7,245

"

"

7,365

10,672

13,234

8,223

10,210

Machinery depreciation

6,365

"

"

7,115

6,893

9,472

6,473

8,243

Land and building costs

7,792

"

"

5,550

10,457

14,046

8,148

10,533

Miscellaneous

9,228

"

"

6,559

11,116

11,716

9,406

9,807

Total average inputs

46,499

"

"

43,450

78,792

92,671

54,738

64,643

Diversification Margin

4,589

"

"

724

5,277

5,823

4,190

5,982

of which: Diversification Output

5,954

"

"

778

6,484

7,051

5,431

6,811

Diversification Input

1,365

"

"

54

1,207

1,228

1,241

828

FARM BUSINESS INCOME

14,612

"

"

19,700

23,170

39,649

16,268

29,907

(1) *denotes averages based on less than 5 farms that have been suppressed to avoid disclosure.

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