Thursday 19 November 2015

Defra's updated version of its Farm Business Income

Defra has published an updated version of its Farm Business Income (FBI) estimates for the 2014-15 year which shows that 60 per cent of cereal farms failed to make a profit if income from EU support payments and other diversified income is excluded.

This not only demonstrates the challenges facing farmers in light of the fall in commodity prices but it also demonstrates the importance of diversified income streams without which many farms will struggle to survive. And here the widening digital divide is becoming an increasing problem.

For example when contemplating the conversion of farm buildings to offices, one of the most important features to consider is whether it is possible to provide access to broadband. This is even beginning to impact on the letting of some residential properties on rural estates I manage here in the South West.

Anyone living and working in Wells, as I do, will be all too familiar with the inadequacy of our digital infrastructure and mobile phone reception, but there is hope that these inadequacies will eventually be remedied.  However, in more remote rural areas there may be very little hope of ever being connected via the existing infrastructure.

As a result of this widespread rural problem the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has submitted written evidence to an inquiry by the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee on the digital economy. 

The CLA noted that the government has put significant emphasis on how digital technology can increase productivity in our economy and, in their evidence, highlighted the appetite in rural areas to use new technologies.  However, the CLA raised worries about how the lack of connectivity in rural areas is contributing to the ever widening rural-urban digital divide.

This is becoming a big problem for all businesses in the countryside, not least farmers who are increasingly being required to submit information electronically such as registering cattle identification and movement information or VAT returns and these requirements are only going to increase.

Failure to address this digital divide will result in farmers and other rural communities becoming increasingly isolated from the wider economy, which is a serious concern for the future of the countryside.


James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells

T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

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