Report Finds Half of North Yorkshire's Farms Don't Make a Profit

The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has announced a major overhaul of the Combined Authority’s farming support programme after a report concludes half the regions farms are not making sustainable profits.

Mayor David Skaith has announced a major overhaul of the Combined Authority’s farming support programme which will see the creation of an expert advisory panel on Agriculture, Food and Rural Businesses and Communities.

The change, which was approved at a Combined Authority meeting on Friday, comes after a report commissioned by the Mayor found that more than half of the 7,000 commercial farms in the region are not making sustainable levels of profit. 

It found that farmers are battling with market volatility, climate change impacts and policy changes. 

Since its establishment in 2019, Grow Yorkshire, an initiative and partnership that supports and transforms the farming and food industry across the region, has funded more than 100 audits and tests on farms, developed special interest groups and training programmes but the Mayor’s report highlighted an urgent need for further intervention. 

David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said: 

"Our farmers are the backbone of York and North Yorkshire, but with more than half of farms currently making unsustainable profits, we cannot afford to stand still.   

“Grow Yorkshire has already been so important at speaking up for farmers, today we’ve strengthened their role, giving a stronger voice to those who know farming and rural communities best.   

“Rural communities can’t just survive, they have to thrive and be at the centre of telling us how to achieve this.” 

Grow Yorkshire says that the farming sector generates over £380m annually in York & North Yorkshire and covers 70% of the land.

The reconstituted Grow Yorkshire will operate through two complementary mechanisms:

• Expert Advisory Panel – Provide strategic advice and identify key programmes and approaches for delivery, with a chair appointed by the Mayor.
• Food and Farming Delivery Network – An informal delivery network, bringing together key direct delivery suppliers around food and farming. The network will enable effective sharing of best-practice and coordinated approaches to between CA-funded food and farming projects.

The renewed Grow Yorkshire will be expected to include an expanded membership. This will ensure representation across the breadth of issues
affecting agriculture, food and rural communities, from traditional farming representatives to business organisations, food manufacturers, nature
conservation groups, health services, and rural crime specialists.

The new format for Grow Yorkshire will mean that the initiative can focus on implementing national recommendations to ensure that more farms make a sustainable profit, backing new farming methods to reduce their impact on the environment and removing barriers to training and support the wellbeing of farmers. 

Partners who work on the Grow Yorkshire initiative include regional and national organisations that represent farming including the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA). 

Harriet Ranson, CLA Director North, said: 

“The CLA has been an active participant since Grow Yorkshire was first established, and we welcome Mayor David Skaith’s recognition of its importance and growing it's brief to that of an Expert Advisory Panel to support his amibitions for the rural sector. 

“The CLA is always ready and willing to represent our farmers and rural businesses within local government fora to ensure they implement policies that are fit for purpose, that stimulate farm profitability and wider rural economic growth. We thank David for his continued support and recognition of the importance of the rural economy to York and North Yorkshire's prosperity.”