A Matter of ScaleA study of the productivity, financial viability and multifunctional benefits of small farmers

(20ha and less)

Why measure small farm productivity?

• Challenge “Hobby Farm” perception• Government support for small farmers• Figures to aid business planning• Proving viability to Local Planning Authorities• Is there an “inverse relationship” in the UK?• CAN Agroecological farming feed the world?

Methodology Quantitative and qualitative study

Holdings 20ha and less

Growing to sell, not just subsistence

6 Regional recruitment meetings

2 online surveys – 69 respondents, plus 3 of 20-40ha.

Filmed interviews/visits with eight most productive holdings

Geographical Distribution

1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to15 16 to 20 21 to 25 26 to 30 > 30 no answer

29

15

7 73

0

7

1

How many years has business been established?How many years has business been established?

How many years of farming expe-rience?

1 to 56 to 1011 to1516 to 2021 to 2526 to 30> 30

Holding Size Frequency (ha)

<1ha 1-4.99ha 5-9.99ha 10-14.99ha 15-20ha0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Frequency of Farm Size

Frequency of Farm Size

Number Holdings Operating Each Enterprise

Veg-etables

Herb Fruit Cereal Eggs (Hen & Duck)

Poultry meat

Sheep Cattle Pigs Goat meat

Dairy (Cow & Goat)

Other0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Series1

Other Enterprises

edible flowers 1 cut flowers 6 firewood/coppice 3 horse livery 2education and training 2honey/bees 4allotments 1 dandelion tea and coffee 1hops 1 camping 2mushrooms 2 Fruit tree nursury1medicinal herbs 1alpaca fibre 1 (bringing in £5000/year from online sales) value added products (jam/juice/cheese) 3

Eco-management Systems

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Frequency Eco-management Type

Challenges and Limitations of Productivity Results

• Results patchy due to low response rate • Datasets too small to draw conclusions for all

but horticulture• Only output data collected, no input data• Diverse, integrated agroecological holdings,

hard to sum up in numbers• Many other ways to measure productivity

Vegetable Yields (kg/sq m)Small Farm Survey (2014/2015 average) compared to Organic Standard Yield

(2014 Organic Farm Management Handbook)

Vegetable Yields (kg/sq m) 2014/2015 Small Farm Average compared to Non-Organic Standard Data (DEFRA – Basic Horticultural Statistics 2012)

Holding 1 – Top Vegetable Yields

• 4.98ha (12.45acres) • 2ha (5 acres) organic

vegetables• Vegetable box scheme

(95 boxes/week)• Sandy soil, south facing• 70 laying hens• 9 pigs for a restaurant• 1.3 Full Time Equivalents

Holding 1 – Vegetable Yields

Tomato

Carrot

Broad

bean

French bea

n

Parsnip

Beetro

ot

Calabres

eOnion

Cabbag

e

Courgette

Kale0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Holding 1 Yield (kg/sq m)Non org yield (kg/sq m)

Holding 2 - Meat and Eggs•A12 ha (30acre) holding•Beef (8 x 220kg meat/yr )•Lamb (23 x 24kg meat/yr)•Pork (23 x 91kg/yr)•Chickens, Turkeys and Geese• 50 Hens (150 eggs/hen) • 20 Ducks (100eggs/duck)•Gross annual income £92k•Net income £26k

Holding 3 - Highly Diverse

•10 ha – 11 enterprises•Vegetables•Soft and top fruit•Sheep, cattle, pigs and goats•50 laying hens•2 milk cows (7300litres/yr)•Cheese, bacon, jams and other processed products•Catering for weddings

Financial ViabilityIncome Class Gross income minus costs

Frequency for mean net income only

Frequency for mean net income inc. subsistence valuation

Insufficient financial data 23 23

Loss 3 2

£1-5000 20 17

£5001-10,000 10 10

£10,001-15,000 7 7

£15,001-20,000 3 6

£20,001-25,000 0 0

>£25,000 3 4

N=69 69 69

AMOS Sample - Income Distribution

• Produce sales generate up to 20% of total income for 18 (28%) respondents, 40-60% for 21 (33%) and more than 60% for 21 (33%) of AMOS sample.

• 50 (78%) receive no subsidies at all.

• For 13 (20%), subsidies contribute up to 20% of income

• 38 (59%) of the respondents had some form of off-farm employment, but for over half of these it represented less than 40% of income.

Mixed (2013/14)

Horticulture (2013/14)

All Types (2013/14)

All types (2015/16)

-£20,000.00

-£10,000.00

£0.00

£10,000.00

£20,000.00

£30,000.00

£40,000.00

£50,000.00

UK Farm Business Income by Farm Type and Cost Centre ( £/farm) Defra (2015) , p8

AgricultureAgri-environment and other paymentsDiversification out of Agriculture Pillar 1 PaymentsTotal Farm Business Income

A sample of what is possibleFarm Size Farm Type Gross Income Net Income

1ha Vegetables & Salad £39,000 £14,000

5ha Vegetable Box Scheme

£85,000 £15,000

18ha Mixed CSA £85,240 £9000

1.55ha Top and Soft Fruit £15,625 £6000

0.1ha Vegetables £21,000 £10,000

10ha Mixed farm £52,000 £13,000

Employment• AMOS Average of 2.41 FTE

per holding (Range 0.3-10.2)

• AMOS Average 0.79 FTE/ha (Range of 0.03-40).

• UK average annual work units per ha 0.026 (Eurostat 2012)

• UK Horticulture 0.23AWU/ha (Defra 2015)

What advantages do small, agroecological farms offer post Brexit?

• Less reliant on Pillar 1 payments, so well placed to survive subsidy cuts

• Naturally provide social and agri-environmental benefits• Capital support for start-ups could create financially self-

sustaining farms• Greater resilience through low input, diverse and

integrated systems• Food price rises post Brexit might make small farms

more competitive BUT global liberalisation could have opposite effect.

Increase UK Self-Sufficiency in Fresh Produce

• 57% of vegetables and 18% fruit we eat produced in UK

• Many of imports from EU• Migrant labour supply under

threat• Small farmers combine good

vegetable yields with agri-environment benefits

• Attractive quality of work life compared with industrial horticulture

• More small scale vegetable producers to increase domestic production

Overcoming the Barriers

• Start-up grants for infrastructure and equipment

• R&D into appropriate technology for small farmers

• Schools to teach rural and practical skills

• Affordable land and accommodation

Conclusions

• Measuring productivity is complicated!• Small farms highly diverse and integrated • Vegetable yields compare well• Ingenious and sophisticated economic

strategies• More satisfying and skilled employment• We need to develop easy to use and

standardised data recording methods