Accredited official statistics

Summary

Updated 21 October 2022

All figures relate to 2021 and the change between 2020 and 2021 unless otherwise stated.

Farm Structures

• The Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) decreased by 0.2% to 17.2 million hectares, covering 71% of land in the UK.

• The total croppable area increased by 0.5% to 6.1 million hectares.

• The cereal crops area increased by 5.7% to 3.2 million hectares.

• The area of oilseed crops planted decreased by 15% to 352 thousand hectares.

• The total number of cattle and calves decreased by 0.1% to 9.6 million. The beef and dairy herds remained largely unchanged at approximately 1.5 and 1.9 million animals respectively.

• Total pig numbers increased by 5.3% to 5.3 million.

• Sheep and lamb numbers increased by 0.8% to 33.0 million.

• The total labour force on commercial holdings decreased by 1.0% to 467 thousand.

Incomes and productivity

• In 2020/21, the average Farm Business Income (FBI) across all UK farm types was £46,500 (at current prices) compared to £39,000 in 2019/20.

• FBI varies greatly with 16% of UK farms failing to make a positive FBI in 2020/21 while 28% of farms had a FBI of over £50,000.

• In 2021/22, higher prices for key outputs such as cereals, meat and milk coupled with increased yields are forecast to drive a rise in the value of output, although this is expected to be offset to some degree by higher costs, particularly for feed and fertilisers.

• UK Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in 2021 was £5,998 million, an increase of £756 million (14%) from 2020. Although costs increased in 2021, these were outweighed by increases in both total livestock and total crop outputs, resulting in the third highest TIFF, in real terms, since 2000.

• In 2021, agriculture’s contribution to the UK economy (Gross Value Added at basic prices) was £11,222 million (0.5% of GDP). This constitutes an increase of £914 million (8.9%) compared to 2020.

• Total livestock output in 2021 was £16,285 million, an increase of £1,034 million (6.8%) from 2020. All major livestock outputs saw increases in value owing to high prices, with the exception of pigmeat which decreased in value by £38 million. The largest value increases were seen in milk, which increased by £344 million, and beef which increased by £310 million.

• In 2021, total crop output increased by £1,802 million (20%) from 2020, to £10,876 million. High prices and generally favourable growing conditions saw many crop outputs increase in value, the largest being wheat, which increased by £1,160 million. However, fruit and potatoes saw the largest decreases in value of £123 million and £119 million respectively.

• Intermediate consumption increased by £2,044 million (12%) from 2020, to £18,854 million in 2021. The majority of costs increased in 2021, particularly animal feed, which increased by £978 million, and fertilisers, which increased by £559 million. Seed costs fell by £87 million in 2021, returning to more normal levels following unusually high costs in 2020.

• Total Factor Productivity is estimated to have increased by 2.9% between 2020 and 2021. This was driven by a decrease in the volume of all inputs and an increase in the volume of all outputs.

• The volume of all outputs increased by 2.6%. 2021 saw increases in volume for all crop and livestock output categories, with the exception of fruit (-10%) and potatoes (-4.3%). These small decreases were outweighed by larger increases across other outputs, particularly in the output of ‘other crop products’ (24%) and the output of cereals (23%).

• The volume of all inputs decreased by 0.3%. This small decrease in the volume of inputs is the result of a mixed pattern of increases and decreases in 2021. The inputs that saw the largest percentage increases were plant protection products (6.3%), fertilisers (4.5%) and animal feed (3.3%). Whereas those with the largest percentage decreases were seeds (-12%), other goods and services (-5.6%) and total maintenance (-4.5%).

Prices

• The annual average price index for all agricultural outputs increased by 10% from 2020 to 2021.

• The largest upward contribution to the annual inflation rate for agricultural outputs was from wheat (2.3 percentage points), followed by cattle and calves (1.8 percentage points) and milk (1.7 percentage points). The main downward contribution came from pigs (-0.5 percentage points).

• The annual average price index for all agricultural inputs increased by 11% from 2020 to 2021.

• The largest upward contribution to the annual inflation rate for agricultural inputs was from fertilisers and soil improvers (3.6 percentage points), followed by compound feedingstuffs (2.5 percentage points) and straight feedingstuffs (1.5 percentage points).

Commodities

• Harvested production of wheat increased by 45% to just under 14 million tonnes, following a particularly small 2020 production. The value of production was 75% higher at £2.7bn.

• Harvested production of barley decreased by 14% to around 6.9 million tonnes. The value of production was 9.4% higher at £1.2bn.

• Oilseed rape production decreased by 5.5% to around 981 thousand tonnes, mainly due to the lowest planted area since 1986. The value of production increased by 36% to £488m due to higher prices.

• Sugar beet production increased by 26% to 7.4 million tonnes. The value of production was 30% higher at £216m.

• The value of vegetable production decreased by 0.1% to £1.7bn.

• The value of fruit production decreased by 12% to around £917m.

• The value of beef and veal increased by 10% to £3.3bn. Home-fed production decreased by 4.6% to 891 thousand tonnes.

• The value of pig meat decreased by 2.6% to £1.4bn. Home-fed production increased by 4.0% to 982 thousand tonnes.

• The value of mutton and lamb production increased by 12% to £1.5bn. Home-fed production decreased by 9.5% to 277 thousand tonnes.

• The value of poultry meat increased by 2.5% to £2.9bn. Home-fed production remained at 2.0 million tonnes.

• The value of milk and milk products increased by 7.8% to £4.8bn, mainly due to rising prices.

• The value of eggs for human consumption increased by 11% to £818m. Production increased by 4.1% to 1.0 billion dozens.

Environment

• In 2021 utilised agricultural land use stood at 71% of the total area of the United Kingdom.

• Since the late 1990’s nitrogen and phosphate application rates have fallen.

• A comparison of soil nutrient balances (in kg per hectare) from the year 2000 to 2020 shows a 17% decrease for nitrogen and a 27% decrease for phosphate.

• Estimated greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions from agriculture have fallen between the year 2000 and 2020 (the most recent data available):

• Nitrous oxide emissions have decreased by 16%

• Methane emissions have decreased by 12%

• Ammonia emissions have decreased by 10%

• The farmland bird index has decreased significantly since 1970 with the index for all farmland species in 2019 less than half of 1970 levels.

Organics

• The area of land farmed organically increased by 3.6% to 507 thousand hectares.

• The area in-conversion increased by 34% to 42 thousand hectares.

• England has 61% of the organically managed land, Scotland has 21%, Wales 16% and Northern Ireland 2%.

• Within England nearly half of all organic land falls within the South West region.

• There were 5.7 thousand organic operators in the United Kingdom.

Trade

• The value of food, feed and drink exports decreased by £1.2bn (5.6%) to £20.2bn.

• The value of food, feed and drink imports decreased by £2.7bn (5.5%) to £45.9bn.

• The trade gap in food, feed and drink decreased by £1.5bn (5.4%) to £25.6bn.

Food chain

• In 2020 the agri-food sector in the United Kingdom accounted for a total estimated Gross Value Added (GVA) of £115bn or 6.0% of national GVA, a decrease from 6.1% in 2019. The retailing sector increased 14% between 2019 and 2020, while the non-residential catering sector decreased by 31%.

• Employment in the agri-food sector grew by 0.6% over the 12-month period to the fourth quarter of 2021 to just over 4 million. The largest percent change was seen in wholesaling which fell by 2.6% (6,000 employees).

• Total factor productivity of the food chain increased by 0.4% in 2019 while there was an increase of 0.6% in productivity in the wider economy. In the 10 years prior to 2019, the average annual growth rate of the food chain was 0.6% while the wider economy’s average annual growth rate was 0.3%.

• Excluding the effect of price rises (constant prices), consumers’ expenditure on food and alcoholic drinks increased by 10% in 2021 and was 10% higher than in 2011. Expenditure on food eaten out increased by 35% in 2021, whilst expenditure on household food decreased by 0.8%.