Associate Partner Harriet Jones provides an insight into the Farmland Market and overview onto her work in Estate Management...
All the estates we work with are different, not only in their enterprises but in the way they are managed and we try to focus on the individual needs of each client. With current commodity price fluctuating, farmers and landowners should think about the sustainability of their business and consider expanding existing enterprises or diversifying. Always looking to optimise enterprises generally and, in particular, any planning and development opportunities, we are currently working with a Cheshire-based client who is converting a range of Grade II Listed buildings to provide a number of commercial units. This is a hugely exciting development which will offer high specification workspace with all mod-cons in a stunning rural location. In these changing economic times, it is important to make sure the estate runs smoothly whilst accommodating its natural evolution and helping the landowner to manage their estate efficiently, effectively and profitably. Farmers should also consider other ways to utilise traditional farm buildings which have been replaced by purpose built modern buildings to generate new income streams.
Farmland prices have continued to rise over the past year even with input costs still increasing and CPRE have stated that nearly 4,000 acres of farmland have been taken from agriculture since 2010, making our estate management role even more challenging. In the last month, we have agreed sales on a number of blocks of land, all of which received high levels of interest and demand resulting in the blocks selling for prices in excess of £15,000 per acre. Senior Partner of Barbers Rural, Mike Taylor, commented that Governments have set, and failed to meet, yearly targets of 300,000 new houses and that planning authorities are focusing on new villages and towns on greenfield farmland sites. However, development is made more difficult due to additional restrictions with Biodiversity Net Gain targets for carbon offsetting.
Both Mike and I agree that the overall result of the current farmland market is less land available to farm with demand for land increasing, inevitably putting up prices. Farmers should look to explore different revenue opportunities and unlock the potential value in their redundant farm buildings.
Harriet Jones BSc (Hons) MRICS, FAAV