The purpose of this information request is to gather information on the current and future status of the county farm estate within the UK.
1. How many county farm holdings do you have?
| Number of holdings | Number of acres | |
| Equipped (house, buildings and land | 64 | 8538 |
| Non-equipped (buildings and land) | 41 | 1022 |
| Bare land only | Included in 39 above | Included in 39 above |
2. What is the current structure of your county farm estate?
| Total number of tenants | 70 |
| Average age of tenants | 44 |
| Number of tenants who are new entrants to farming | 70 – they will all have been new entrants when they started farming on the estate |
| Number of tenants with no family history in agriculture | Devon County Council does not hold this information. |
| Total net income from estate | £1,335,993 total gross income (turnover) and after direct costs leaves a net revenue surplus of £529,134 for year ending 31 March 2024 |
| Total value of estate | £19,514,187 (Existing use value – not open market value with assumed VP) |
3. Please complete the following table in relation of the movement of tenants on the estate over the past 3 years.
| Number | ||
| New tenancies granted | To existing tenants | 8 |
| To previously established farmers (not from county farms estate) | 0 | |
| New entrants to farming | 17 | |
|
Progression of tenants |
To a new farm on county farm estate | 7 |
| To private tenanted sector | 4 | |
| Purchased a farm | 4 | |
| Retired and moved off estate | 5 | |
| Left farming industry but not retired | 5 | |
| Unknown | 0 | |
4. What factors do you consider when considering a new tenant for a farm?
Competency, skill and experience, qualifications, business acumen, financial resource, ability to forecast income and expenditure projections, ability to farm progressively yet sustainably.
5. Have you sold any of your county farm holdings in the last 5 years?
Yes.
6. If yes, please explain the factors which led to this decision.
- Farmsteads were not fit for purpose and it was not economically viable to make the level of investment required to future proof them.
- Planning consent was secured for alternative use and significant increase in capital value realised for essential inward investment and to support wider council capital programme.
7. Do you have any plans to dispose of any of your county farm holdings within the next 5 years?
Yes.
8. Do you have any plans to dispose of any of your county farm holdings within the next 5 years?
For the same reasons as outlined in the answer to question 6.
9. Have you used any of your county farms to support wider council objectives e.g. the use of care farms or to support sustainability goals?
Yes, the estate and most importantly its tenants support wider Council objectives such as rural employment, added value goods and services in the rural community, care farm and social prescribing, BNG delivery, environmental habitat enhancements such as tree planting, hedgerow planting, education delivery Home – Farmwise Devon etc.
10. What do you consider are the five biggest benefits to the county farm estate?
- Delivery of invaluable opportunities for people to start farming on their own account. Time and time again research confirms Council Farms provide more new entrant opportunities (particularly the all important opportunity of a farmhouse with buildings and land), than any other landowner. See CPRE Reports for example.
- Providing a ready supply of experienced and proven tenant farmers for other agricultural landlords such as the Duchy of Cornwall, the Crown Estate, the National Trust etc.
- Delivery of a revenue surplus to support wider Council activities.
- Delivery of significant capital receipts from the prudent realisation of enhanced capital value through planning consent for alternative use or development.
- A land resource for the delivery of wider Council objectives and obligations such as Biodiversity Net Gain associated with DCC developments.
11. What are the five biggest challenges that currently face the county farm estate?
- Statutory and regulatory pressure requiring ever greater levels of investment on the estate for livestock holdings to remain fit for purpose.
- Annual improvements to the infrastructure likely to exceed annual budget.
- Limited opportunity in the private sector for established tenants to progress on to.
- Limited availability for supply contracts for new entrants, particularly in the dairy sector.
- Achieving Net Zero, particularly for livestock farms.
12. What are your future plans for your county farm estate?
Under the current strategy to retain as many holdings as possible, let as many farms to as many new entrants as we can and nurture relationships with the private sector with a view to facilitating more progression opportunities. Release high value capital receipts though the prudent sale of development land, reinvest capital in replacement land and/or farms to maintain an estate around 10,000 acres in size and work towards achieving net zero.
Complete the ongoing programme of capital investment in improving the condition of farmhouses, invest in improved infrastructure and deliver more wider county council initiatives such as rural employment, diversification, added value goods and services, care farming and social prescribing, education, tree planting, carbon sequestration, etc.