Part
7 - Small-scale producers pushed out
As intensive
farms have spread, small farms have closed down. About 4,000 farms
closed between 2010 and 2016, according to the Department of
Environment and Rural Affairs, of which three quarters were in the
smallest category (less than 20 hectares of land). The number of big
farms – those with more than 100 hectares – remained constant.
Pippa Woods,
of the Family Farmers’ Association, said the increased price of
land combined with falling prices for goods meant family farmers
could not compete with larger farms, who can make far more profit
thanks to the economy of scale.
She used to
keep a thousand hens and earned enough money from the eggs to pay her
weekly food bill. But the growth of battery eggs led to the price of
eggs dropping, and her hens became unprofitable.
With profit
margins on smaller farms wafer thin, some feel they should expand and
start supplying big, integrated companies to secure their future, she
said.
The loss of
small farmers would be a great loss for the UK, she warned, as they
are good custodians of the countryside. They tend to run mixed farms,
which helps keep soil healthy and produces grain for the animals,
whereas intensive farms bring in grain and dispose of waste on HGVs
going in and out. Pollution accidents from large intensive farms are
on a bigger scale and much more disastrous, she added.
“Local
farmers contribute to the economy, the local area, the local
communities,” said Woods.
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