Agricultural workforce in England at 1 June 2024

Question 1

Key points

Accepted Answer

Agricultural workforce

The total number of people working on agricultural holdings in England was 285 thousand on 1 June 2024. This is a decrease of 2.6% since 2023.
Farmers, business partners, directors and spouses account for over half (61%) of the total workforce and decreased by 3.1% to 173 thousand people in 2024.
Regular workers increased by 1.5% to 66 thousand people in 2024.
Casual workers saw a fall of 7.3% between 2023 and 2024.

Sex and age group

16% of principle farmers and holders were female. This proportion was similar across all age groups, except in the youngest age group (under 35 years), where a slightly higher proportion of farmers were female (17%).
38% of principal farmers and holders were aged 65 years or older. Only 15% were under 45 years old.

Question 2

Section 1   Detailed results

Accepted Answer

1.1 Agricultural workforce

The total number of people working in agriculture in England was 285 thousand on 1 June 2024, showing a decrease of 2.6% since 1 June 2023.

In 2024 farmers, business partners, directors and spouses accounted for almost two thirds (61%) of the workforce and at 173 thousand people saw a decline of 3.1%. This figure had remained relatively stable over the previous 3 years at around 179 thousand people. Salaried managers make up a much smaller proportion of the total (4%) and decreased by 2.3% to 12 thousand people in 2024. Regular employees and casual workers make up the remainder of the total workforce, accounting for 23% and 12% respectively (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Total agricultural workforce in England at 1 June

Year	Farmers, partners, directors and spouses	Salaried managers	Regular workers	Casual workers	Total
2020	181,895	11,578	66,540	41,513	301,526
2021	179,029	11,812	67,677	38,900	297,418
2022	179,769	12,210	67,427	41,740	301,146
2023	178,696	12,095	64,583	37,027	292,401
2024	173,120	11,812	65,556	34,309	284,797

The total number of regular workers increased by 1.5% to 66 thousand. There were 41 thousand full time regular workers, a decrease of 1.9% between 2023 and 2024. Part time regular workers saw a larger proportional change, increasing by 7.5% from 23 thousand to 25 thousand people. Out of the regular workers, approximately 62% worked full time and 38% worked part time, this proportional split is little changed year on year (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Proportions of full time and part time regular workers in England at 1 June

Year	Full time	Part time	Total regular workers
2020	64%	36%	100%
2021	62%	38%	100%
2022	64%	36%	100%
2023	64%	36%	100%
2024	62%	38%	100%

As these results are a snapshot of the workforce on the farm at 1 June and given the nature of agricultural work, it is therefore not unusual for the number of casual workers to vary from year to year. The number of casual workers decreased by 7.3% from 37 thousand people on 1 June 2023 to 34 thousand on 1 June 2024.

Decreases were seen in both the number of male and female casual workers, which fell by 6.6% and 8.7% respectively. The proportional split between males and females has remained unchanged in recent years with males consistently accounting for almost two thirds (65%) of casual workers (Figure 3).

Figure 3 - Male and female casual workers in England at 1 June

Year	Male	Female	Casual workers
2020	26,384	15,129	41,513
2021	24,751	14,149	38,900
2022	26,780	14,960	41,740
2023	23,994	13,033	37,027
2024	22,404	11,905	34,309

1.2 Sex and age group

To help us gain an overview of diversity within the farming population of England we asked principal farmers and holders about their sex and age group. The questions were optional and while the majority of farmers answered them, some left the questions blank. The figures presented here relate only to those who provided an answer.

The categories are based on the Office for National Statistics guidance for the collection and classification of sex and age group data in the UK. These harmonised standards allow consistency and comparability of statistical outputs across the country.

Sex

In 2024, 84% of principle farmers and holders were male while only 16% were female. This proportion was similar across all age groups, except for the youngest age group (under 35 years), where a slightly higher proportion of farmers were female (17%) (Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Proportion of farmers in each age group, by sex in England at 1 June

Age band	Male	Female	Total
under 35 years	83%	17%	100%
35 to 44 years	85%	15%	100%
45 to 54 years	85%	15%	100%
55 to 64 years	85%	15%	100%
65 and over	84%	16%	100%

Age Group

In 2024, the highest proportion of farmers (38%) were aged 65 years and over, 30% were aged 55 to 64 years and 16% were aged 45 to 54 years. By contrast 15% of farmers were aged under 45 years and of those, 5% were aged under 35 years (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Age distribution of farmers in England at 1 June

Age band	Proportion of farmers
under 35 years	5%
35 to 44 years	10%
45 to 54 years	16%
55 to 64 years	30%
65 and over	38%

Question 3

Section 2   About these statistics

Accepted Answer

2.1 Survey methodology

Full details of the survey methodology are available on the Structure of the agricultural industry guidance web page.

The June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture has been run predominantly online since 2011, with an option for farmers to complete a paper form if they prefer. The survey is annual and samples around 30,000 holdings most years, with a full census run once a decade. The last census was run in 2021.

The June 2024 survey was sent to a sample of 56,000 commercial holdings and responses were received from 30,000 holdings, representing a response rate of 53%. This is a larger sample than usual which will enable us to provide detailed geographical breakdowns later in the year and help to understand changes currently happening within the farming sector, e.g. changes in land use following the introduction of ELM schemes. Commercial holdings are defined as those with more than five hectares of agricultural land, one hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.

Table 1 provides details of the sample survey population broken down by farm size. The size of a farm is determined by its Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) which is the typical number of full-time workers required on the holding based on its activity.

Table 1: June 2024 population size and sampling rate

Stratum	Description	Sampling rate (%)	Population size
1	SLR < 0.5	30%	50,264
2	SLR >= 0.5 and < 1	51%	15,271
3	SLR >= 1 and < 2	71%	13,527
4	SLR >= 2 and < 3	80%	6,773
5	SLR >= 3 and < 5	80%	6,675
6	SLR >= 5	80%	7,182
10	SLR unknown	97%	5,649
	All	52%	105,341

For pig and poultry sectors, an additional data collection exercise was run to collect data from a central point for some of the largest companies. Cattle results are sourced from the Cattle Tracing System (CTS). The data include returns from all holdings with cattle so are not subject to survey error.

2.2 Data analysis

The data are subject to rigorous validation checks which identify inconsistencies within the data or large year-on-year changes. Any records that have not been cleaned by the results production stage are excluded from the analysis.

Population totals are estimated for each question on the survey to account for the non-sampled and non-responding holdings. This survey uses the technique known as ratio raising, in which the trend between the sample data and base data (previous year s data) is calculated for each stratum. The calculated ratio is then applied to the previous year s population data to give England level estimates. For holdings where we do not have base data (new holdings or long-term non-responders) the sample estimates are raised according to the inverse sampling fraction.

2.3 Confidence indicators

Confidence intervals and tick based indicators are shown alongside all of our estimated figures and can be found in the data tables within the dataset. These both help to show where there is more variability around results and highlight whether year-on-year changes are statistically significant or not. Whilst these are a useful indicator, they do not take into account any other sources of survey errors, such as non-response bias or administrative data errors.

2.4 Data notes

All figures relate to commercial holdings.
All percentage changes are based on unrounded figures.
Totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components due to rounding.

2.5 Data uses and users

Results from the June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture have a wide range of uses and users with requests for data being made on a frequent basis. A document providing information of specific uses and users can be found on our guidance and notes.

2.6 Other survey results and publications

The next releases from the June Survey will be UK results and are expected to be in December. The definitive publication date will be announced on the research and statistics webpage on gov.uk.

More detailed results from the June Survey can be found on our Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June web page. This includes various time series of crop areas and livestock numbers dating back as early as 1866 and detailed geographical breakdowns of the results.

2.7 Feedback

We welcome feedback and any thoughts to improve the publication further. Please send any feedback to: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk.

Question 4

Section 3 - What you need to know about this release

Accepted Answer

3.1 Contact details

Responsible statistician: Sarah Thompson

Team: Farming Statistics Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Tel: 0300 060 0170

3.2 Accredited official statistics

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. An explanation can be found on the Office for Statistics Regulation website.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2014. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled accredited official statistics .

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards (see contact details). Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:

Reviewed and amended the validation checks carried out on response data including validation against new administrative data sources to better assure ourselves of the quality of the statistics.
Enhanced trustworthiness by removing pre-release access.

Agricultural workforce in England at 1 June 2024

Applies to England

Key points