Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture 2015

3.3 Grants and subsidies(Table B2)

Chart 3.5 shows the overall impact of grants and subsidies on the average income of farm businesses. The average FBI falls below zero when grants and subsidies are excluded. In each of the last five years FBI without grants and subsidies has been negative. In 2013-14, this figure was -£16,000.

Chart 3.5: Average FBI of Scottish farms without grants and subsidies,

2009-10 to 2013-14

The difference in the messages about the profitability of agriculture without subsidies between TIFF (chart 3.2) and FAS data (chart 3.5) may be at least partly explained by the absence from FAS of the pig, poultry and horticulture sectors. These attract relatively little in the way of subsidies but do contribute to the profitability. However this is unlikely to fully explain such a large difference.