In the last weeks there have been demonstrations and other actions by sheep, cattle and pig farmers to draw attention to the collapse in prices. Arable farmers now earn less from their crops than they spend on producing them, except for wheat produced on large-scale farms in East Anglia, England. The price of lamb has fallen by almost 30 percent since July last year, while prices for the majority of other produce, including milk, pigs and poultry, remain below the cost of production. Pig farmers are selling animals for slaughter at 40 percent less than two years ago. The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, which can award grants to struggling farmers, has seen a 1,000 percent increase in calls for help since 1998, compared to 1994-97.
Farmers are twice as likely to kill themselves compared with others of the same age.
There are currently just 615,000 employed in British farming, though 3 million are dependent on it. Since 1973, the productivity of the agricultural industry in the UK has increased by over 40 percent. Increases in labour productivity have been the key factor driving this growth, which since 1973 has more than doubled. This was in line with that in the EU as a whole, however, once an allowance was made for the BSE crisis. Whilst the value of agriculture's direct contribution to GDP has been falling, other sectors of the economy have been growing in real terms.