The ADAS Farmers’ Voice survey has shown farmers are more positive now than at the start of the decade about the future of farming.

The annual state of the nation survey questioned farmers from England and Wales earlier this year, covering a range of subjects aimed at assessing the attitudes to the future of farming and business performance, providing insight into the state of farming.

This year’s results show that, despite the current economic crisis affecting many industries, business performance in farming is improving. Some 30 per cent of farmers are now managing to maintain their profit level, compared to only four per cent in 2000.

Since the survey was first undertaken there has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of farmers now happy to stay in farming for the foreseeable future.

The proportion of farmers who think their business may not survive has more than halved and there is an even divide between those farmers who have diversified enterprises (53 per cent) and those with no current or intended diversified enterprise (47 per cent).

Mark Temple, a senior ADAS consultant, said: “The findings from the survey are a timely insight into the views and perceptions of the farming industry. Over the last nine years the farming industry has changed significantly due to legislation and market impacts.

“The majority of farmers have undergone some form of restructuring in order to survive and this has now been completed with businesses becoming stronger as a result.

“The growing proportion who think they will stay in farming as they currently do, and the smaller proportion expecting to have to change farm practice, could be seen as a sign of financially more stable times for most farmers and is a positive sign for the future.

“Clearly, higher farm product prices experienced by many farming sectors have affected the attitudes of the survey respondents, as far fewer farmers now believe farming has no future - a message we are keen to share across the industry.”

The Farmers’ Voice survey was established by ADAS in 1999 to canvas opinion.

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