Agribusiness News January 2025

News in Brief

Steady progress amid changing policy and markets

2024 appears to have been a relatively unremarkable year in Scottish farming, with the sector ploughing on among political change, an evolving policy environment, and imperfect seasons of weather. The pace of policy change in Scotland appears more gradual than south of the border, allowing Scottish businesses valuable time to adapt and reorient to changing public payments and alternative income streams.

Statistics indicate that livestock numbers continue their long-term trend of contraction (see ABN’s November edition for more details), supporting strong prices for livestock producers, and raising questions about alternatives for land freed up by this change. How businesses explore changing public payments and conditions alongside exploring alternative opportunities for income (see Sector Focus on pg 6 for environmental updates) will be critical to success. Getting the balance of these right alongside existing farming operations right could be economically favourable – the question will be how complex this will be for farm businesses.

The 45^th Edition of the SAC Farm Management Handbook (co-funded by the Scottish Government) is now available to download free on the FAS website at: https://www.fas.scot/publication/farm-management-handbook-2024-25/

To own your own hard copy of this comprehensive and up-to-date source of farm and rural business management information, please visit www.sac.co.uk/fmh or contact us on 01835 823322 or email the FMHB team on fmh@sac.co.uk 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE ABN TEAM!

This month’s editor: Anna Sellars