Specialist poultry farm incomes in UK to drop
The average Farm Business Income (FBI) for specialist poultry farms in the UK for 2014/15 is set to fall, according to latest forecasts from the UK government’s agricultural body, Defra.
Despite an increase in throughput, lower egg and broiler prices are expected to reduce total farm output.
Uncertainty in specialist poultry sector
This is expected to be partially offset by lower input costs, particularly feed which is a key input on these farms. Average incomes are therefore expected to fall by 12% to around £140,500. Specialist poultry units are subject to a considerable degree of uncertainty reflecting both the structure of this sector and the relatively small sample of these farms in the Farm Business Survey (FBS) sample.
However, average FBI, essentially the same as net profit, is expected to fall across almost all farm types with specialist pig units recording the largest fall, down 21% year on year. Average income is expected to fall by around 13% on dairy farms in 2014/15 to £78,000.
In contrast, grazing livestock farms are showing signs of recovery, but even with increases in income across the beef and sheep sector, profitability still falls some way short of 2012/13 levels. A marginal increase is also expected in cereal farm income.
Source: Defra
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