ABSTRACT
There is, therefore, a wide spectrum of holdings, all which have differing productive capacity. Climate, elevation, aspect, location, etc, all affect the productive capacity as do the quality of soil. The valuer should, however, not place too much reliance on theAgricultural Land Classification Maps. They are of some help but they do not always signify the real quality of the soil concerned, eg most riverside land is shown as Grade III, largely because it is liable to flooding. However, most riverside land is good quality free-draining soil which generally speaking has far greater productive capacity than say some Grade II land and sometimes even Grade I land. Again the productive capacity of fields even on the same farm varies. Some fields have extremely good quality soil which may be capable of producing, in an average season, well over 4 tonnes of cereals per acre (9.8 a ton per ha) while others on the same farm may only produce, on average, say 2 tonnes per acre (5 tonnes per ha). The gross margin difference here on, say, a winter wheat crop may be as much as £140 per acre (£350 per ha). Other areas of a farm, or even a whole farm may be capable of being irrigated, which despite being somewhat costly, can boost yields considerably in drought conditions and thus increase the productive capacity. A contrast is the case of, say, a 300 acre (120ha) Cotswold arable farm with rather shallow stony brash, limestone soil compared with a similar size Herefordshire farm in the Wye Valley with some alluvial silty soil and some free-draining red sandstone soil. Assume both have equal quality buildings including adequate corn storage and good general purpose buildings.
