Scottish farmers are investing in sectors with strong growth

The publication yesterday of the latest Scottish farm statistics was seen by NFU Scotland’s head of rural policy, Jonnie Hall, as proof that when market conditions are positive, farmers react to them.

“In those sectors where returns have been strong, like beef, sheep, eggs and cereals, there are encouraging indications of stability and investment.,” he said.

But, according to Hall, the opposite effect was seen in areas like milk, pigs and broilers with prices failing to keep up with soaring costs. In those sectors, the June 2011 census figures have all slipped downward.

Commenting on specific sectors, he said he was particularly pleased to see the lift in the numbers of suckler cows when compared with last year. In this single most important sector in Scottish agriculture, there are now 459,341 beef cows on farms some 2,410 more than last year but more than 80,000 less than there were in 1998.

Rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead said he was pleased that beef numbers were now stabilising.

In the sheep sector, there has been another slight drop in the number of breeding ewes, from 2,645,139 to 2,641,664, but the numbers of lambs born in 2011 rose by almost 60,000 to 3,326,133.

Hall pointed out that the figures came after two of the worst winters in living memory.

Dairy cow numbers continued to dwindle over the past 12 months with the new figures down at 182,219, more than 100,000 less than in 1982.

Pig numbers also fell again leaving only 36,338 sows in the national herd, some 2,500 down on the previous year. To compound future worries, the number of gilts were also down to 5,163 some 1,300 less than last year

In the poultry sector, there were differing fortunes with the numbers of egg layers rising to 3,746,061, an increase of about 70,000, but broiler numbers were down to just over 8 million, some 3 million less than there were a decade ago.

After a century with a declining workforce, the numbers employed in the Scottish farming industry seem to be in a plateau with 67,806 full time workers on the land, a figure very similar to that recorded 25 years ago.