Main uses of the Farm Business Survey (FBS)

The Farm Business Survey (FBS) provides information on the financial position and physical and economic performance of farm businesses in England, to inform policy decisions on matters affecting farm businesses and to enable analysis of impacts of policy options. It is intended to serve the needs of farmers, farming and land management interest groups, government (both national and European), government partners, and researchers. The primary objective of survey results is to contrast the performance or other business characteristics of different groupings of farm, such as between regions or other geographical or environmental designations, farm types, farm size, age or education of farmer etc.

The FBS is widely used:

1) To inform policy making

The primary use of FBS data is, in conjunction with other economic information, to inform policy decisions and to help monitor and evaluate current policies, especially their impact on farm businesses, and the farmers that depend on them.

Because of the high level of both government intervention in the agriculture sector and of taxpayer support, policy activity is higher than for some sectors which contribute more to the national economy. This imposes correspondingly high demands on the information base. The prominent profile of the FBS in policy issues relates to the nature of the information collected and the paucity of alternative sources.

2) For farm business advice

The FBS, and associated Special Studies, provide information on average levels of return and costs faced by farmers. Corresponding information on top and bottom performers are used by farm advisors and lending institutions to evaluate the viability of businesses and business plans.

3) For benchmarking business performance

The FBS provides a full range of farm management data for benchmarking business performance. From 2004/05, it will also provide useful additional information for benchmarking performance of farm enterprises.

4) For research

Another important use of the survey is for academic research. Many research programmes use a variety of modelling techniques which make use of FBS farm-level data made available in anonymous form through the UK Data Archive Economic and Social Data Service.