'It's not economic to grow food anymore', fears Rutland farmer

There's concern more farmers across Peterborough, Stamford and Rutland are having to diversify out of food production, due to factors like high energy bills, continued war in Europe and Brexit.

Andrew Brown, from Rutland, said:

'With the ongoing war in Europe it's been the high input costs.'

'The price of fertiliser went from around £180/t, to almost £1,000/t. That's an enormous increase. It's come down significantly now but it's still a lot more than it was historically.'

'The price of wheat shot up to well over £300/t, which went some way to compensate. But now, it's back down to around £160/t - which is way below the cost of production.'

'It doesn't take much of an economist to work out that if you're trying to sell things below what it's costing you to grow it, you're not going to stay in business for very long.'

'That was one of the reasons that, throughout Europe, we had a common agricultural policy to try and smooth out those troughs and peaks, so the farmers can keep going.'

Mr Brown's had to diversify away from food production, to find a more lucrative way of using his land.

'We've got to a situation now where farmers like me will say "it's not economic to grow it, so we won't grow it", and that then is a big problem going forward', he said.

'Half my farm is now in an environmental scheme, because it's more economic to be paid to grow things for the birds and the bees, than it is for me to grow food that people can eat.'

A Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs spokesperson said:

"This government firmly backs our farmers. We are ensuring British farming is at the heart of British trade by putting agriculture at the forefront of any deals we negotiate, prioritising new export opportunities, protecting UK food standards and removing market access barriers.

We’ve committed to maintaining the £2.4 billion annual farming budget which will support farmers to produce food profitably and sustainably, while protecting nature and helping to meet our net zero ambitions. Our new schemes offer something for every type of farm, and a crucial part of their development has been to listen to farmers’ feedback."

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