Farm Rent Rates and Revenues to Be Reviewed

According to Mr. David Hebditch, head of Chesterton Humberts Rural Division, the end of September (September 29th in particular), which marks Michaelmas, is high time to review farm rent rates and agricultural revenues in the UK. In his opinion, the review is of crucial importance to all parties, including landlords, tenants, and partners (this is also true for statutory tenancies, sharefarming, and farm business tenancies). The review is to result in negotiations between the parties concerning any changes in the nature of the farm, rent rates, and agricultural incomes. The past review of rent rates and revenues, which took place 3 years ago, yielded interesting results, which showed significant increases in cereal prices, input costs and interest rates coupled with high residential rent and enterprise yields and low dairy and livestock returns. It is still unclear, though, what the results of this year’s review would be and whether farm landlords should hope for substantial revenues or tenants should expect a reduction in rates. It is expected that the results of the review will remain in the positive territory as UK Government has already made a number of claims, which suggest that the country’s agricultural industry has to focus on food production and development of renewable energy sources, with both of the objectives being dependent on land. In addition to this, revenues and input costs are said to remain steady: no fluctuations in the cost of arable crops and milk are expected. Interest rates, fuel and fertiliser costs will also remain steady in the near future. As for yields generated from residential and farm property rents, they are expected to remain strong due to the overall situation in the UK housing market. Also, many farms will rely on this type and other types of non-agricultural income in the near future.