🚀 go-pugleaf

					(from Daily Telegraph's 
					agricultural editor)

MANY farmers in East Anglia, traditionally one of England's richest
agricultural regions, are now earning less than the statutory minimum
wage.

Incomes, which have halved in the region since 1996, fell sharply last
year, a report showed yesterday. Producers received lower prices for
their wheat, barley, sugar beet and potatoes. Incomes from livestock
were also hit, according to a survey by the chartered accountants
Larking Gowen. Costs, which had fallen in previous years, started to
rise again. 

These results were obtained before rising fuel prices and the current
outbreak of swine fever hit the farming industry.  The picture for the
coming year will be worse, the firm said. "The immediate future is
gloomy."

One of the few bright spots, it said, was the Government decision to
introduce Working Family Tax Credits, which exclude business assets such
as farmhouses and land. Some farmers with children may be able to claim
up to GBP 6,000 a year tax-free to avoid hardship.

The report forecast that more farmers would leave the land or merge
their farms with other businesses to cut costs.  They are also expected
to shed more labour.

Daily Telegraph story here...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=003488929803347&rtmo=wA5slKeb&atmo=tttttttd&pg=/et/00/9/19/nfarm19.html

-- 
Darren Wyn Rees	            merlin@netlink.co.uk
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