Defra reports that total income from UK farming increased by over a third last year to £3.46 bn in its summary of commercial farming last year.
Despite higher input costs, including fuel, fertiliser and feed these were outweighed by a 25% increase in the value of farm products to £19.8bn.
1. The value of cereal production in 2008 saw an significant increase - an outstanding 65% increase on the previous year to £3.2bn. This was due to higher volumes of production and increased harvest prices.
2. The livestock sector benefit from higher farmgate prices. The total value of:
cattle production increased by over a quarter to £2.1bn
sheep and lambs increased 29% to £822m
poultry increased 23% to £1.5bn
pigs increased by 17% to £858m.
3. The dairy sector saw the value of milk production increase by 22% to £3.5bn.