To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total taxable income of UK farmers in each of the last ten years; and in each of those years, what were the total payments received by UK farmers from the EU Common Agricultural Policy.
Answered on
10 April 2018
Defra produces annual estimates of the Total Income from Farming. This is the total profit from all UK farming businesses and measures the return to all entrepreneurs for their management, labour and capital invested. It does not include income to farmers or farming households from non-agricultural activities or sources.
The total profit (Total Income from Farming) is the total net contribution minus depreciation of farm assets, payment of wages, rent, interest and taxes and addition of “subsidies on production”. As this is an aggregate measure of net profit (which is then subject to income tax), we are unable to say how much tax is actually paid as this will depend on how this profit is distributed across farms. Some farms will pay no income tax as their income is below the personal threshold limit, and others will pay tax at the higher rate.
The “subsidies on production” includes payments to farmers from the Basic Payment Scheme, agri-environment schemes, less favoured areas support schemes, and animal disease compensation.
£ billion (current prices) | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Total income from farming | 2.4 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
Subsidies on production | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.1 |