Our in-house rural research team reviews the latest information and trends and produces briefing papers for clients and for our Rural team, so it is as up-to-date as possible. It is led by Dr Jason Beedell, who is part of our team of 49 researchers which works across Europe on all major property markets. We produce a series of rural market reports, on crop yields, returns from contract farming and the farmland markets in England and Scotland, as well as occasional papers. The team also produces Land Business Update, a free fortnightly e-bulletin on the latest property news and issues.
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Land Business Update | Week Commencing 11 November 2024
Land Business Magazine out now Our new Land Business magazine is now available. Its theme is building resilience and it includes articles on: Autumn Budget – Our initial thoughts on the changes announced in the Budget. Climate adaptation – How farming businesses are responding to the challenge of climate change. Planning potential – What do […]
Land Business Update | Autumn Budget
What the Autumn Budget means for farmers and landowners Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered her Autumn Budget after weeks of speculation about the contents. The following is a brief summary of some of the key announcements with implications for farmers and landowners and our understanding of them so far. Overview This is a Budget which […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 14 October 2024
Environment and forestry State of Natural Capital Report – current value of the UK’s natural wealth is just over £1.5 trillion The UK’s natural capital is important as so much of our economy, society and wildlife depends on our natural assets being in good condition. An example is the dependence of farming on nature. Farming […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 30 September 2024
Farming The changing face of land use on farms in England Defra has just released some data on the amount of land used on commercial farms in England. It is based on returns from the June Census: The area of land used nationally for farming on the units fell by 1% in 2024 compared with […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 16 September 2024
Farming Compulsory register to protect bird health – registration deadline 1 October Anyone who keeps birds in England and Wales – including those with just one bird and including backyard flocks, birds of prey and pigeon fanciers – must sign up to the new compulsory Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) register before 1 October. […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 2 September 2024
Farming Do agri-environment schemes actually deliver environmental benefits? (England) The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) is monitored by Natural England on behalf of Defra. To do this, Natural England gathers evidence and carries out research on the AES each year. The key points from this year’s evidence annual report, which summarised seven research projects, are: […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 19 August 2024
Farming Further updates to the Sustainable Farming Incentive Defra updated the guidance for the SFI in early August. The main changes are: Some changes to the guidance on how to manage land under some of the actions. For example, legume fallow is now a rotational option again, which provides much more flexibility than the static […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 5 August 2024
Farming Positives and negatives in the NAO’s latest assessment of ELM and changes in farm support in England The NAO has published its third report on Defra’s progress on the Farming and Countryside Programme, which is the programme that includes the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes and the productivity and advice grants, such as the […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 22 July 2024
Farming Farming secretary on Labour’s support for the sector Steve Reed gave his first interview to the farming press at the Great Yorkshire Show. Much of what he said followed previous announcements and the Labour manifesto. Key points from his interview with the BBC’s Farming Today include: “I think there should be direct support for […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 8 July 2024
Change of government Plans for farming and the countryside We have summarised what we know about Labour’s policy on farming, food and the environment in the bulletin published on 5 July. The main points for England are: No big changes expected to farm or agri-environment policy. Commitment to current spending levels this year and will […]
Land Business Update | Election Edition
What a Labour Government could mean for the rural sector After a six-week campaign, Labour has won the 2024 General Election. In this special edition of Land Business Update we address the question of what a Labour Government could mean for the farming and wider rural sector. We’ve reviewed its manifesto and analysed key statements […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 24 June 2024
Farming Leading farm carbon calculators sign agreement to harmonise their methodologies The agreement between Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit, Cool Farm Alliance and Agrecalc is good news and should increase consistency between the tools, which is what we think is needed to build confidence in their outputs. They hope that the joint work becomes the ‘agreed […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 10th June 2024
Farming Farmers and business management practices Defra has published its latest data on this, which is a long-running survey using information from the Farm Business Survey. The latest data covers the year to the end of February 2023. Some of the most interesting results are summarised below and we will cover access to advice and […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 27th May 2024
Farming Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) expanded offer published Defra announced what new actions (which is the new name for options) will be available to English land managers from July onwards. More than 50 simplified actions from Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier will be merged into SFI which, with 20 new options, expands the SFI to 102 […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 13th May 2024
Farming Profits halve for 2024 and recover in 2025 in our Arable profitability outlook Our revised harvest 2024 and 2025 arable profitability forecasts show the financial impact of six months of exceptionally wet weather, changes in commodity prices and falling Basic Payments on combinable crop growers. Our forecast net margin – which is the equivalent […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 29th April 2024
Farming 20% fall in UK winter crop output estimated The estimate, from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, is based on AHDB’s early bird survey of planted areas of crops, which have fallen for most winter-sown crops, and yields from the last year that was very affected by poor winter weather, which was 2020. Winter […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 15th April 2024
Farming More details on the Scottish Agricultural Reform Route Map The Scottish Government has published some more details of changes from 2025: Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme – calves will only receive a payment if their mothers have a calving interval of less than 410 days or if the calf is the first registered birth […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 1st April 2024
Farming Much lower profits forecast for English farms in 2023/24 Farm Business Income is the government’s main measure of the net profits earned by farms from farming, agri-environment, Basic Payments and diversification. The forecasts for the year that includes harvest 2023 are based on information available in early February 2024 for prices, yields and input […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 18th March 2024
Land Reform in Scotland New wide ranging land reform bill introduced The new bill could have significant implications for land management, communities and land sales. We will produce a full briefing note in due course but the headlines are: Land holdings over 3,000 hectares will be legally required to show how their land use contributes […]
Land Business Update | Week Commencing 4th March 2024
Farming Agricultural transition in England – net income from agri-environment schemes is growing Net income, after deduction of the variable and fixed costs of the environmental management, has risen by 73% across all types of farm since 2020/21, according to the latest data from Defra. £ net income per farm per year 2020/21 2022/23 % […]
Land Business – Spring / Summer 2020
Rhodri Thomas
Land Business – Autumn/Winter 2019
Rhodri Thomas
Farm Health & Safety
Jonathan Armitage
