Farmland: 44% of Buyers are nor Farmers
Almost half of people buying farmland in the South West are not farmers, the report by the Commission for Rural Communities shows.Farming is "changing rapidly" and a significant area of land is now being bought by non-farming interests for housing and development as well as "agri-business".
The report also singles out two factors which may have some longer-term impacts for land management - incomes for farmers can be low and fluctuating and the average age of farmers, especially for small farms, is getting older.
Farmers are also identified as being at risk of stress, often being distant from settlements and contact with other people. Nationally, around 38 per cent of farmland buyers are non-farmers but in the South West the figure is 44 per cent.
The State of the Countryside report says: "The trend is for a smaller number of larger farms, and for former agricultural buildings to be separated from farmland for residential use.
"The primary function of farmers remains as food producers, although there is increasing interest in a wide range of crops for industrial uses and bio-fuels.
"At the margins, food production is declining as agricultural activities, such as hill sheep farming, become uneconomic due to changing policy and decreasing farm subsidies."
There has been a more than three-fold increase in wind power capacity over the last three years with a shift of land use from food to non-food production.
UK self-sufficiency in food continues to decline, down ten per cent for indigenous food and now just 60 per cent for all food.
source: timesonline