Outlook 2023: A look back on 50 years of change

In the 50 years since Andersons was founded, much has changed in the economy, society and farming.

In 1973, the UK population was 56.2 million, with an average life expectancy of 72 years. Today it is 20% higher at 67.5 million, and people can expect to live 10 years longer.

Inflation on the retail price index (RPI) in September 1973 was 94.8, now it is 1,371.3 (September 2022), so prices have gone up about 14-fold.

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Wages averaged £1,300-£1,400/year in 1973, compared with just over £31,000 in 2022, a 23-fold rise.

The percentage of household spending on food and drink in 1973 was 31%, with 84% of that consumed in the home.

By 2020 this had fallen to 17% and in 2019 (the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic, to enable fair comparison) consumption in the home had dropped to 62%.

Food self-sufficiency

In 1973, the UK was 62% self-sufficient in all foods. The figure for foods that can be grown or produced domestically was 72% at that time.

Things have not changed radically on this measure. Total self-sufficiency in 2021 was 61% and for indigenous food it was 74%.

However, there has been significant change in the intervening years. The high-point came in 1984 when the figures were 78% and 95%, respectively.

The average 1973 value of bare arable and pasture land in England and Wales was £500/acre, according to agent Knight Frank.

For the first three quarters of 2022, the firm puts the value at £7,673/acre, a 15-fold increase, so slightly higher than the rate of inflation.

The average house price in August 1973 was £8,700, compared with £295,900 in 2022, which represents a 34-fold increase. Had the path of house prices followed the RPI, the average house price would now be worth £121,800.