Survey participation the key to the future of farming

_{Sascha Grierson (left) at a training day in 2021.}

Scotland’s farmers are being asked to participate in the vital round of annual data gathering that will help inform the direction of policy decision-making in the nation’s agricultural sector.

Every year the Scottish Farm Business Survey (SFBS) gathers key economic and environmental data to provide in-depth focus and analysis. The information is used to help Scottish Government shape its future agricultural policy.

SAC Consulting, part of SRUC, is again leading the survey development on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Sascha Grierson, Head of the Agri-Economics unit at SAC Consulting said: “Contributions to the survey are invaluable. They help not just the individual farms by providing detailed insights and bench-marking, but also generate vital statistical information to help shape the future of the sector.

“Among many benefits, farmers can see a breakdown of their costs, their net worth, and measure their overall business performance. In addition, they get a free carbon footprint audit to track their resource use in their business.

“The survey is anonymous, and regular involvement generates long-term insights examining the year-on-year economic progress of your farm business.”

The SFBS has been running since the 1930s and is a detailed economic and environmental study of 400 farm businesses in Scotland.

The data is gathered by the Farm Business Survey technical team at SAC Consulting and data is delivered to the Scottish Government every December.

There is both short and long-term value in the survey dataset for government and for farm business volunteers.

In the short term, it is a mechanism for individual businesses to give insights to government about the impact of policy change using real farm data.

It also creates a national group average dataset from which all in the industry can benchmark their own performance and set direction for improvement.

In the longer term, this data allows all in the industry to see 10+ year trends in profitability in various farm types.

It also serves to underscore the importance of the role of support for farms that potentially can deliver other forms of value to society in terms of land management and rural community, beyond economic activity.

Some of the key details to emerge for 2022-23:

• The average farm has increased profit compared to the previous year and, significantly, is profitable without support.
• However, this hides a polarised picture across the different farming sectors, with livestock farms on average making a loss before support payments.
• When considered as an average across different livestock farm types, net profit is down 10% compared to previous years.

Farmers taking part in the survey will receive:

• The Farm Business Report: This set of detailed management accounts help farmers truly understand their business finances and allow them to track performance for up to three years
• Whole Farm Benchmarks: A business planning tool that allows farmers to compare their business with other similar businesses and track progress year on year
• A whole farm carbon audit: This will help farmers better understand their business and will also help with grant applications.

Sascha Grierson added: “Taking part in the survey is a worthwhile exercise that will provide insights that make a real impact on your business.

“It also supports Scottish agricultural policy decision-making to reflect the way in which the sector is changing across the country.”

Farmers who wish to participate in this year’s survey can:

Email ScottishFarmBusinessSurvey@sac.co.uk for further details or call 07557 661316

Posted by SAC Consulting on 06/12/2024