The £5 million-plus purchase of a huge Shropshire farm reflects growing confidence in large-scale agriculture in the area, experts have said.

Following the news that the 613-acre Havenhills and Brockton Farms, at Brockton near Telford, had sold for way over its £5 million asking price, local agricultural specialists moved to claim that the purchase showed farmers are confident in the state of the market.

Oliver Cartwright, spokesman for NFU Shropshire, said the price was a reflection of the quality of farmland in the county but said such prices could sideline young up-and-coming farmers who can’t afford such an investment.

He said: “The price is just reward reflecting the excellent quality of Shropshire farmland and we hope this land continues to be used to produce high quality food.

“The average cost of an acre for farms with the infrastructure and buildings in place, is around £8,300 so this sale reflects that.”

“This is an excellent statement about the quality of Shropshire agriculture and we have some of the best farmers and land in the country and are keen to see county farming thrive.”

Tony Morris-Eyton, from Savills West Midlands in Telford, said: “It shows the strength of confidence from large agri-business and large scale farmers.

“With slightly higher field prices that has helped boost confidence, but there’s also a strive to reduce costs and spread them over a wider acreage.

“If the sale had been on a freehold sale, we would have also had interest, as people are after blocks of land to spread their costs over.

“It was a company sale, which meant it had to be sold as a whole so we didn’t encourage interest in the parts, but we would have had interest if we had.”

However, such land rarely becomes available, and young farmers hoping to get into the industry still face an uphill struggle as a consequence of the high prices, Mr Cartwright added.

He said: “What we must remember is while farmers may be perceived as land-rich, the price paid for their produce is what matters and there must be improved farm gate prices to help them remain profitable and have confidence to invest.

“We need to see a fair price paid to farmers in line with production costs as there are massive retail profits not being passed back.”