Sum-It Farm Management Software have just revealed the results of their recent Farmer Insights Survey and have found that nearly half of British farmers are worried about the future of their farm.

242 British farmers were surveyed in this nationwide study which looked at seeking the opinions of today’s farmer, largely around the future of their farm.

One of the questions asked them to describe how they were feeling about the future of their farm business. 40% said they were ‘worried’, 26% said they were ‘indifferent’ with only 23% saying they were ‘excited’. Other words that came out were ‘apprehensive’ ‘frustrated’ ‘challenging’ ‘mixed feelings’ and ‘relatively confident’

This seems to paint a somewhat pessimistic picture of how British farmers are feeling about the next few years.

The results show that it appears to be both sheep and arable farmers who are feeling the least hopeful about the future of their farm. 58% of sheep farmers report that they are ‘worried’ along with 46% of arable farmers.

This compares to 27% of dairy farmers who told us they were worried about the future of their farm and 39% of beef farmers.

When it comes to feelings amongst the younger generation of farmers, the survey showed a slightly more optimistic picture with 50% of under 35 year olds saying they were ‘excited’ about the future compared to just 20% of farmers over 45 years of age.

The survey asked farmers what their plans were over the next 5 years. Although it may have been assumed most farm owners would be looking to grow their business this applied to just 34% with nearly half (48%) reported they were just looking to maintain the farm at the same level with 5% looking to downsize and 2% looking to sell-up.

This may be indicative of uncertainty in the market at the moment, volatile input costs and selling markets, the discontinuation of the Basic Payments System along with Brexit worries.

The remaining 11% said they are focusing on diversification with things such as holiday lets, solar farms, glamping, farm shops and commercial swimming cited as some of the areas people were looking to diversify into.

Of those farmers who reported being ‘worried’ about the future of their farm, only 25% of these were looking to grow their farm over the next 5 years. This compares to 61% of those who reported being ‘excited’ about the future.

Ben John from SUM-IT says “Our survey has provided very interesting reading and highlights the high levels of worry and frustration around the next few years amongst today’s farmer which may be a reflection of the uncertain economic landscape. This isn’t helped by the increasing admin burden put on farmers with 74% reporting an increase in farm admin over the past 3 years. With the launch of our new next generation of farm management systems we are doing all we can to help streamline farm admin and release some of that pressure.”

To view the full insights from this survey, head to www.sum-itsoftware.co.uk.