Agriculture

Our agricultural interests include both livestock and arable farming.  Consisting of around 106,000 hectares (263,000 acres) across the UK, they also include 26,900 hectares (66,500 acres) of common land, principally in Wales.

Overview

Overview

The way the land is utilised varies depending on location, from traditional hill farming in Scotland and Wales to large-scale commercial operations in the eastern counties of England, and our farming tenants generate a diverse range of arable and livestock products. 

We are acutely aware that farmers have, for some time, been working in a challenging environment.  As a landlord we believe that it is vital that we support our tenants wherever possible.  This might mean helping our tenants to enhance farming enterprises, or to diversify into non-agricultural activities; either way with a view to improving business profitability.

Our 'Project 2020' seeks to establish a basis on which we can work with tenants to help address the UK's food security needs.  The development of this initiative is currently underway with English Food and Farming Partnerships (EFFP) and the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS). This project aims to optimise sustainable food productivity and ensure we and our tenants play an active part in addressing future national and international food supply challenges.

In this section

  1. Working with us

    Backing the innovative while keeping the long-term in view.

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  2. Scottish Salmon fishings

    We hold the legal rights to salmon fishings on many rivers in Scotland, working to conserve the environment and enable recreation activities to take place.

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Supporting the challenges

Supporting the challenges

Successful businesses require practical support and, over the last ten years, our investment in the rural sector has been running at approximately £4.5m per annum. We applaud sound business ideas, and have supported a ski centre in Scotland, and enterprises ranging from a silk workshop to a flower business.

Maintaining close relationships with the Tenant Farmers Union, the National Farmers Union and the Country Land and Business Association ensures we are in touch with the national agricultural community.

To support the future of farming we sponsor a Nuffield Scholarship and fund a tenant to attend the Oxford Farming Conference. In similar vein we have been pleased to sponsor two candidates to attend The Prince of Wales' Farming and Food Summer School, and also to join other organisations in contributing to The Prince's Countryside Fund, the objectives of which include the improvement of the sustainability of British farming and rural communities.

There are activities throughout the year on our farms to support local education initiatives, allowing young people to learn about where their food comes from.