Farm Business Survey more important than ever
The Scottish Farm Business Survey has been carried out since the 1930s.
An in-depth economic study of Scotland鈥檚 farms has been at the forefront of helping to inform agricultural policy for the last 85 years.
This is according to the team at SAC Consulting, part of 伊人直播, who are responsible for carrying out the annual Scottish Farm Business Survey.
First conducted in 1936, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the survey gathers data which goes to both the Scottish and UK Governments to assess the impact of changes in agricultural policy on farming businesses.
And, with today鈥檚 farmers facing the challenges associated with Covid-19, climate change and Brexit, the Scottish Farm Business Survey is now arguably more important than ever.
Project Manager Sascha Grierson, from SAC Consulting, said: 鈥淲e capture a true picture of what鈥檚 happening in farming businesses in response to policy change, and environmental and economic shocks such as those caused by climate change, Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. In these changing times, there has never been a more important time to gather this information.鈥�
The information not only feeds back to the Scottish and UK governments, but has also fed data to the EU Farm Accounts Data Network. That information, alongside similar data collected from all EU member states, has directly informed the CAP and its various changes over the years.
Participation is the survey is voluntary and confidential, with a network of up to 450 farms in Scotland taking part each year. In particular this year, SAC Consulting will be welcoming smaller sized beef and sheep farms, with a turnover of 拢30,000 to 拢100,000, to join the survey.
Businesses taking part are allocated a Farm Business Analyst from SAC Consulting.聽In return for taking part, farmers are given a farm business report, a benchmarking report which gives them detailed information on the productivity and financial performance of their business compared to similar businesses; and a detailed carbon audit carried out by SAC Consulting鈥檚 award-winning Agrecalc tool.
This audit helps farmers better understand their business in the environmental context, while also helping with grant applications.
Last year鈥檚 Scottish Farm Business Survey will be published on the Scottish Government website in March.
To find out more, email聽ScottishFarmBusinessSurvey@sac.co.uk
Posted by 伊人直播 on 10/02/2021
