On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 06:28:20 +0000 (UTC), "anton"
wrote:


martin wrote in message ...
http://money.independent.co.uk/perso...tory.jsp?story
=431709

Quitting the rat race of urban stress and heading for a new life in
the countryside is becoming increasingly popular. Research by the
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors shows nearly two-thirds of
farms sold between April and June were bought by non-farmers. Rob
Jeffrey, founder of NewLandOwners, says: "For them, it's living the
dream, but in many ways they are the saviours of the
countryside."...............


There's a legal farce going on at present concerning the
Common Agricultural Policy which means that farmers who
sell or buy farms at the moment don't know exactly what they are selling or
buying. The result is that the market is dominated by
those who are getting out of farming and those who are not buying farms for
the purpose of farming them.

Presumably when those legislating get their act together,
farmers will be able to buy and sell farms again.

The reason that farmers are getting out is because without subsidies
many small farms aren't profitable. The CAP policy is to reduce
subsidies. New Zealand abolished subsidies completely some time ago.
There is no point in subsidising somebody to produce food at
uneconomic prices that nobody wants.
--
Martin