Our exit from the EU is less than 18 months away and yet, while Government has confirmed that overall support for farming will continue until 2022, we have not seen the small print. No trade deals have been done and negotiations with the EU have yet to commence. Whatever the outcome, we can only continue to assume that the implications for the businesses that we manage will be signifcant.

In these uncertain times, understanding the key drivers of a business and its strengths and weaknesses has never been more important. Benchmarking is an essential tool: where we have applied this to estates that we manage, it has given us a clear focus on the areas of performance we need to pay particular attention to.

It is a pleasure to publish the English results of our 2017 Estate Benchmarking Survey. These show us that across the average estate, income has grown at about the rate of inflation, with costs generally remaining under control. However, pressure on margins can only be expected to build now that inflation has topped 3% and pressure on wage growth continues.

The agriculture and residential sectors continue to be the bedrock of rural estates delivering, on average, 80% of income. The future performance of the former will rely on the outcomes of Brexit and the new British Agricultural Policy. The latter continues to see good growth in income in most regions of the country, as demand remains strong, though associated costs have tended to creep upwards as Government Regulation takes hold. While there is no choice but to comply, careful planning should help control these costs.

One of the key factors to the resilience of estates has been the diversity of asset class and the ability to adapt and take advantage of opportunities.

Diversifying from agriculture, where this has been possible, should reduce the reliance on farm incomes at a time when support is likely to seep away in most areas.

Identifying new income has got to be a strategic focus, with evidence coming through in our survey of a shift towards new sources of income, including renewable energy, commercial and leisure.

We await the outcomes of Brexit negotiations and the content of the Agriculture Bill scheduled to be published next year. In the meantime, we should remain positive about the fortunes of our sector, which has shown resilience in the past and an innate ability to adapt to changing circumstances.