High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Monday, September 07, 2009
Net Farm Income
From August 2009, Farm Business Income (FBI) replaces Net Farm Income (NFI) as the headline farm business income measure. The main advantages of FBI over NFI are: FBI treats the tenure of farms as is, reflecting actual tenure costs, unlike NFI which is based on a tenant type farming definition; FBI represents the return to all those with an interest in the farm business, unlike NFI which only represents the return to the farmer and spouse; FBI includes net interest payments, reflecting actual loan costs, whereas NFI is based on a definition of zero indebtedness; FBI includes income from a range of diversified activities which make use of farm resources, whereas NFI does not include diversified income.
The trends between 2006/07 and 2007/08 were very similar for FBI and NFI, reflecting the constant nature of the factors which account for the differences between the two. Between 2006/07 and 2007/08, FBI and NFI increased for all farm types other than 'Lowground Cattle and Sheep'. The biggest increases were experienced by Cereal, General Cropping and Dairy farm types, driven by increases in the value of cereal and milk output. The 2007/08 results also incorporate higher grants and subsidies compared to 2006/07. There was a 50% increase in LFASS payments and one-off payments made under the Scottish Ewe Scheme.
Source: Farm Accounts Survey, Scottish Government Rural and Environment Research and Analysis Directorate
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