September 16, 2009
British livestock and dairy farmers show high confidence
An exclusive survey by Farmers Weekly, in conjunction with the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, has revealed that confidence among livestock and dairy farmers is running high.
Of the 300-plus dairy and livestock farmers who took part, some 68 percent described their attitudes to their businesses as either "fairly positive" or "very positive".
There were significant differences in the attitudes of farmers according to the type of production they were involved in.
For example, 77 percent of sheep farmers said they were either "fairly" or "very" positive about their businesses. But this fell to 65 percent in the case of beef farmers and just 55 percent for dairy farmers.
Dairy farmers are less positive about their business prospects than their beef and sheep producing counterparts, due to falling profits and higher levels of outstanding investment.
For example, 38 percent of milk producers are looking to spend more than EUR30,000 (US$44029.2) on their businesses, particularly in response to the new nitrates rules, compared with 33 percent of beef farmers and 16 percent of sheep producers.
US$1 = EUR0.681153 (Sep 16)
