Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2011/12 (OF0373)

Summary

This report presents results of research on the financial performance of organic farms in the 2011/12 financial year (with 2010/11 data for reference). Carried out for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), this research continues project OF0373 and builds on previous work on the economics of organic farming carried out at Aberystwyth University (Projects OF0190, covering 1995/96 to 1998/99 and OF0189, covering 1999/00 to 2004/05)1.
This report utilises data collected through the Farm Business Survey in England and Wales. An analysis of the FBS/Defra Data Archive for 2011/12 found a total of 251 businesses with some organic land. To ensure the analysis undertakes a reasonable comparison of organic and conventional farms, the organic sample comprises holdings with at least 70% fully organic land (>=70% of UAA ha). Farms identified as “in-conversion” and those with less than 70% fully organic certified land were excluded from the analysis, providing a sample of 217 organic holdings.
To allow for comparison with conventional farm data the organic holdings were matched with clusters of comparable conventional holdings, utilising data from a total of 786 conventional farms. Based on a similar resource base e.g. similar land area, farm type, region and other factors, a minimum of 3 comparable conventional farms (CCF) were clustered to each organic farm. In total, data from 208 organic farms were suitable for inclusion in the analysis, as it was not possible to identify comparable conventional businesses for some organic farms, and the sample of organic specialist pig and poultry farms was not assessed (due to minimum sample size restrictions).
The report presents data for different farm types and gross and net margins for key enterprises comparing the result s of farms organic with similar conventional enterprises.