12 July 2011

An in-depth survey of 3,000 European farmers in six countries has indicated that commodity selling pricing is the most important concern for farmers in three European countries, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, with it being the second most important concern of farmers in Great Britain and France. The next most frequent concern was, unsurprisingly, the weather, which was selected by farmers in four countries surveyed, Germany, Great Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic.

TrendMonitor, sponsored by DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschaft Gesellschaft, is a twice yearly measure of farmers’ attitudes and views of their businesses. Conducted by The Kleffmann Group, who are partnered in the UK by Independent Business Resource Limited (IBR-Ltd), the survey showed that 55% of Polish farmers interviewed considered the selling price of their commodity produce to be of concern, compared to 26% of farmers in the Czech Republic, 25% in Hungary, 22% in France, 15% in Great Britain and 10% in France. In France 26% of farmers specified cereals pricing as significant.

“Commodity pricing is a linchpin to farm profitability and its volatility over the last few years continues to be of importance to many farmers across Europe,” says Roger Pratchett, Director of IBR-Ltd.

Across four European countries, many farmers considered weather conditions to be of importance to them. In the Czech Republic, 24% of farmers chose weather conditions as the topic in which they were most interested, with 18% of GB farmers, 20% of farmers in Poland and 12% of German farmers.

“Commodity selling price and the weather are two key factors which are outside the farmers’ control, but are central to the success of their business. Other factors such as yield and inputs selection are more within the farmers control and so were not chosen as concerns.”

Other farmer key interests indicated in the survey were biotechnology and generic engineering, which was the top concern for German farmers, selected by 16% of them.  “This was not a significant concern in any other European country surveyed.  But in France the third most frequently chosen topic and selected by 15% of French farmers was environmental problems and resources.”

Farmers in Great Britain put bureaucracy as their most important concern, chosen by 20% of farmers. Farmers in Germany and the Czech Republic considered EU Agricultural policy to be of significance, selected by 20% of Czech farmers and 10% of French farmers.

“Some countries had a tight number of key topics, whereas others had much more diverse views. For example, in Poland 55% farmers selected commodity pricing, 33% machinery and 20% weather. In Germany biotechnology was selected by 16%, milk prices by 14%, the weather by 12%, EU Agricultural policy by 10% and commodity prices by 10%, a much broader range of concerns,” points out Roger Pratchett.