In particular, too much time to mull over the cost of certified seed, agrochemicals and machinery compared to the value of the grain that I produce.
Of course, I’ve been in the uncomfortable position where the price of my arable inputs has wiped out any hope of a profit from the sale of my crops for most of the past decade. But now that I am staring Brexit in the face there is a very real possibility that the basic payment scheme – the only thing that has covered up the fact that arable farming on my grade three East Sussex downland is impossible to engage in profitably – could be completely withdrawn by the end of 2019.
Just what a financial precipice the UK arable sector currently sits on is revealed by the latest government farm business survey that shows an average loss for UK wheat growers in 2015/16 of £29 per tonne. Bearing in mind that the 2015 wheat harvest was a bumper one (and that wheat is usually the most profitable crop on most arable farms) what the average loss figures for oilseed rape, winter barley, winter beans or feed peas look like just doesn’t bear thinking about.
The survey also showed that only eight per cent of growers either broke even or made a profit. It also revealed that the average production cost of wheat in 2015 was £143 per tonne, which given that current UK spot wheat prices in the South East are bumping along at exactly that level (even with sterling flat on its back) doesn’t bode well for my profitability this year.
One small comfort for me within the business survey figures is that it shows that the UK’s most profitable arable farms are concentrated in the East Riding of Yorkshire where average wheat yields of nearly 4.5 tonnes to the acre were achieved on the fabulous quality land to be found there. I doubt whether average wheat yields in East Sussex were much higher than three tonnes to the acre so it is reassuring that my lack of profitability is less to do with my ability as a farmer and much more to do with the poor quality of my soil. As my late grandfather was fond of saying: “It is easy to be a good farmer on good land.”
So all in all I simply can’t wait for a bit of favourable late winter or early spring weather so that I can leap from my drill to my sprayer and onto my fertiliser spreader. Then at least I can become busy enough to forget that I am completely wasting my time.
