There are greater challenges in UK farming than for any of the 60 years the Nix Farm Management Pocketbook has been recording farm performance, despite good profits in some sectors.
Farm profits in the UK hit their highest point ever in nominal terms in 2025. Once adjusted for inflation, real-term profits per farmer came second only to 2022, greater than it was in the heady days of the mid-1990’s. Farming, for some, mostly those with livestock, has recently been very profitable.
Yet at the same time, there are emerging challenges that are stretching the industry, in some cases to breaking point. These challenges are not acute and sudden that grab headlines and attention, but chronic and slow, that gradually increase, putting farming under financial strain.