The Unfarmed Parts Pay Better

For most of the twentieth century a good farmer maximised the productive area. Hedges came out, margins were ploughed, and every square metre was made to grow something.

On marginal ground that is now economically wrong. Agri-environment income on the unproductive margins is more reliable than the crop on the productive middle, and — critically — it arrives whatever the weather does.

Defra’s figures for 2024–25 put average English farm business income at £71,200, of which £21,100 came from agri-environment. That is roughly thirty per cent, and it more than doubled year on year. Industry estimates suggest an arable farm layering cover crops, no-till and variable-rate nutrients could earn £45,000 a year in scheme income alone.

Set against a farming enterprise that made £144 in its first year and lost five thousand pounds in 2024–25, that is not a supplementary income. That is the income. Chapter 17 was called Unfarming, and it is the most economically significant chapter in the entire run.