ABSTRACT
The optimism of the mid-1990s was reflected in the farming press. In February 1996 Farmers Weekly wrote, after the MAFF announcements that UK farm incomes had increased by 22 per cent:5
No doubt many media pundits will tell only half the story and the spotlight will fall on the role of subsidies and their cost to the taxpayer. Arable and dairy farmers have undeniably had a good year. A number of factors came together to make last year a vintage year for farm profits [and] . . . gave many farmers an income fillip few could have hoped for.
