Rod Cordingley, Partner at StephensonsRural, reflects on the growing cashflow pressure facing cereal farms and what it could mean for the year ahead.

The talk at the Yorkshire Agircultural Machinery Show (YAMS) this weeky was lack of profitability in cereal farming.

The current value of corn, the lack of Basic Payments for 2025 and two difficult harvests is certainly concentrating minds on cashflow for 2026. When funds become tight it can be a challenge to make the money go round (and keep a bit for yourself).

But time spent in the office looking at what income and expenditure you have over the next six to nine months could help you make some fundamental decisions.

If the figures don’t meet its time to talk to your bank, sell some surplus machinery, sell an investment property or cash some savings. Pig farmers have been used to boom and bust for as long as I can remember but arable farmers are in a new era without the cushion of the Basic Payment scheme.

If you have a house rented out, that capital may be better used in the business now. The Government is looking to Landlords to improve the energy efficiency to even higher standards by 2030. That is in addition to giving tenants the right to stay in a rented house indefinitely after May 2026, and in addition to an extra income tax change on rental income introduced in the last Budget.

If you have a house rented out, think now whether it’s a long-term investment worth having OR are those funds better invested in the business now.

We are here to help you make informed decisions.

Rod Cordingley
rlc@stephenson.co.uk
01904 489731