BIM55105 - Farming in tax law: Intensive livestock enterprise/fish farms

To fall within the statutory definition of `farming' (see BIM55051), an activity must depend at least to some extent on the produce of the land occupied by the person carrying on the activity. Thus, an intensive enterprise, in which livestock are kept entirely separate from the land (for example entirely indoors or, in the case of fish, in tanks), and fed entirely on purchased feed, is not farming (see Lean & Dickson v Ball [1925] 10TC341, Jones v Nuttall [1926] 10TC346, and Peter Reid v CIR [1947] 28TC451).

However, for the purposes of the averaging provisions of ITTOIA/Chapter 16, the definition of `farming' is extended by to include the intensive rearing of livestock or fish on a commercial basis for the production of food for human consumption. For agricultural buildings allowance purposes, the definition is similarly extended by CAA01/S362 (1).