This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Farm income forecasts
27/11/2003
A preliminary forecast of Total Income From Farming (TIFF) was published today.
Total Income From Farming in 2003 in Scotland is forecast to rise by 34 per cent - a 31 per cent rise in real terms. TIFF represents business profits plus income to farmers, partners and directors and those with an entrepreneurial interest in the businesses.
Total Income From Farming per full-time person equivalent in Scotland is forecast to have also risen in real terms to over 16,000 pounds. Although above last year's level, in real terms TIFF in Scotland is forecast to be some 40 per cent below its last high point in 1995 - after almost trebling between 1990 and 1995.
TIFF is business profits plus income to workers with an entrepreneurial
interest - farmers, partners, directors, their spouses and most other family workers. It is the preferred measure of aggregate income, conforming to internationally agreed accounting principles, required by both UK national accounts and by Eurostat
Estimates of TIFF for the UK will be published today in a joint
announcement by all four Agricultural Departments. The UK TIFF estimates for 2003 are an early forecast required by the EU. Eurostat (the Statistical Office of the European Commission) will publish agricultural income forecasts in mid-December for all member states. Their headline measure of aggregate income is slightly different but is based on the same underlying data for the UK.
The figures for past years have been revised to incorporate up-to-date
information. Whilst impacting on the absolute level, these have a small effect on previously published trends in income.
Comprehensive and revised TIFF estimates, including details of output by
sector and input costs, based on more up-to-date information will be published on 29 January 2004. On the same date the respective agricultural departments will publish equivalent detailed TIFF figures for the UK, Wales and Northern Ireland. Also on that date, the four Agricultural Departments will be publishing detailed forecast for 2002/03 of Net Farm Income by type of farm based on their respective Farm Accounts surveys.