Accredited official statistics

Summary

Published 6 June 2024

All figures relate to 2023 and the change between 2022 and 2023 unless otherwise stated.

Summary

Structure of industry

• The Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) decreased by 2.3% and was 17 million hectares, covering 70% of land in the UK.

• The total croppable area saw little change and was 6.1 million hectares.

• The cereal crops area decreased by 2.7% and was 3.1 million hectares.

• The area of oilseed crops planted increased by 4.7% and was 418 thousand hectares.

• The total number of cattle and calves decreased by 0.8% and was 9.6 million animals. The beef herd decreased by 3.8% and was 1.4 million animals. The dairy herd decreased by 0.3% and was 1.8 million animals.

• The total number of pigs decreased by 10% and was 4.7 million animals. The total number of female pigs in the breeding herd decreased by 1.5% and was 338 thousand animals.

• The total number of sheep and lambs decreased by 4.1% and was 32 million animals.

• The total number of poultry decreased by 2.9% and was 178 million birds.

• The total labour force on commercial holdings decreased by 1.7% and was 462 thousand people.

Farming income

• In 2022/23, the average Farm Business Income (FBI) across all farm types in Great Britain (Northern Ireland data for 2022/33 were not available at the time of publication) was £86,000 compared to the UK average of £72,000 in 2021/22.

• FBI varies greatly with 17% farms in Great Britain failing to make a positive FBI in 2022/23, while 41% of farms had an FBI of over £50,000.

• In 2023/24, lower prices for key outputs such as wheat and milk are expected to be one of the main factors influencing Farm Business Income. The impact of lower output prices will also be compounded by continued rises for some input costs.

Accounts

• UK Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in 2023 was £7.2 billion, a decrease of £0.8 billion (-9.8%) from 2022. Following historically high commodity prices in 2022, driven by global events, there were reductions in the commodity prices of key crops and livestock outputs. This, coupled with a poor harvest in many crop items, was not offset by a reduction in the value of inputs resulting in a substantial reduction in TIFF.

• Total livestock output in 2023 was £19.2 billion, a decrease of £0.1 billion (-0.7%) from 2022. This decrease was driven by a fall in the value of milk (-10%) and sheep for meat (-2.7%). Milk farmgate prices have fallen in 2023 after the historical highs of 2022, driven by an increase in supply in the first half of 2023 and weaker demand.

• In 2023, total crop output decreased by £1.3 billion (-9.7%) from 2022, to £12.0 billion. This decrease was driven by a substantial fall in the values of wheat and barley (-28% and -26% respectively) as well as oilseed rape (-45%). The unit prices of these three crops decreased in 2023 from the historically high prices seen in 2022.

• Intermediate consumption decreased by £0.6 billion (-2.8%) from 2022, to £21.1 billion in 2023. This decrease was primarily driven by a 28% decrease in the value of fertilisers.

• In 2023, agriculture’s contribution to the UK economy (Gross Value Added at basic prices) was £13.7 billion (0.6% of GVA). This constitutes a decrease of £0.6 billion (-4.5%) in GVA compared to 2022.

Productivity

• Total Factor Productivity is estimated to have decreased by 5.1% between 2022 and 2023. This was driven by a decrease in the volume of outputs and a slight increase in the volume of inputs.

• The volume of all outputs decreased by 5.0%. There were decreases across all output groups apart from industrial crops which saw a 2.7% increase. This increase for industrial crops was more than offset by decreases across other crops to give an overall reduction in the volume of total crop output of 7.9%. There were also decreases across all livestock volumes, with a 5.4% decrease in livestock for meat and a 0.8% decrease in the volume of other livestock products.

• The volume of all inputs increased by 0.1%. There was a mixture of increases and decreases in the volume of inputs used, with fertiliser showing the largest increase driven by a reduction in prices.

Prices

• The annual average price index for all agricultural outputs increased by 1.4% from 2022 to 2023.
• The largest upward contribution to the annual inflation rate for agricultural outputs was from poultry (1.8 percentage points), followed by potatoes (1.4 percentage points) and pigs (1.2 percentage points). The main downward contribution came from cereals (-3.1 percentage points).
• The annual average price index for all agricultural inputs decreased by 5.0% from 2022 to 2023.
• The largest downward contribution to the annual inflation rate for agricultural inputs was from fertilisers and soil improvers (-5.3 percentage points), followed by straight feedingstuffs (-0.9 percentage points) and compound feedingstuffs (-0.5 percentage points). The main upward contribution came from other goods and services (0.8 percentage points).

Crops

• Harvested production of wheat decreased by 11% to just under 13.9 million tonnes, due to decreased area and yields. The value of production was 28% lower at £2.9 billion.

• Harvested production of barley decreased by 5.7% to just under 7 million tonnes. The value of production was 26% lower at £1.4 billion.

• Oilseed rape production decreased by 11% to around 1.2 million tonnes due to reduced yields offsetting an increase in area.  The value of production decreased by 45% to £483 million due to a combination of the lower production and lower prices.

• Sugar beet production increased by 39% to 7.7 million tonnes. The value of production was 82% higher at £368 million.

• The value of vegetable production increased by 10% to £1.9 billion.

• The value of fruit production increased by 2.2% to just over £1.0 billion.

Livestock

• The value of beef and veal increased by 4.2% to £3.9 billion (bn). Home-fed production decreased by 2.5% to 904 thousand tonnes.
• The value of pig meat increased by 6.2% to £1.8bn. Home-fed production decreased by 11% to 887 thousand tonnes.
• The value of mutton and lamb decreased by 2.7% to £1.6bn. Home-fed production decreased by 1.8% to 296 thousand tonnes.
• The value of poultry meat increased by 12% to £3.5bn. Home-fed production decreased by 1.7% to 2,083 thousand tonnes.
• The value of milk and milk products decreased by 10% to £6.0bn, driven by a decrease in prices from an all-time high in 2022. The volume of milk produced in 2023 remains unchanged from production levels in 2022.
• The value of eggs for human consumption increased by 30% to £1.0bn. Production decreased by 8.0% to 0.9 billion dozen.

Intermediate consumption

• The total cost of intermediate consumption was £21,086 million, a decrease of £605 million (-2.8%) from 2022 to 2023.

• The value of animal feed decreased by £398 million (-4.8%) from 2022 to £7,820 million in 2023.

• The value of energy decreased by £16 million (-0.8%) from 2022 to £1,913 million in 2023.

• The total value of fertilisers was £1,362 million, a decrease of £541 million (-28%) from 2022 to 2023.

Public payments

• Total direct payments to farmers are expected to decrease by £16 million (-0.6%) to £2,953 million.
• Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments are expected to decrease by £292 million (-12%) to £2,050 million.
• Payments linked to agri-environment schemes are expected to increase by £298 million (81%) to £666 million.

Agri-environment

• Estimated greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions from agriculture have fallen between 1990 and 2022.
• After a continuous increase from 2010 to 2018, pesticide usage declined in 2020. This was followed by an increase in 2022, where usage was similar to levels in 2010.
• Since the late 1990s, nitrogen and phosphate fertiliser application rates have fallen and were at their lowest rate in 2022.
• Soil nutrient balances for nitrogen and phosphorus have fluctuated over time, but have shown an overall downward trend and were at the lowest level in 2022.

Organics

• 498 thousand hectares were farmed organically in the UK.

• 60% of UK organic land was in England, 23% in Scotland, 15% in Wales and 1.4% in Northern Ireland.

• Permanent pasture (including rough grazing) accounted for 62% of organic land in the UK, covering 307 thousand hectares.

• 10% of organic land in the UK was used to grow cereals (50 thousand hectares).

• 3.0% of cattle in the UK were reared organically.

• There were a total of 5,230 organic operators in the UK.

Overseas trade

• The value of food, feed and drink exports decreased by £3.1 billion (11%) to £24.4 billion.
• The value of food, feed and drink imports decreased by £5.9 billion (8.8%) to £61.1 billion.
• The trade gap in food, feed and drink decreased by £2.8 billion (7.1%) to £36.7 billion.
• Principal destinations for exports were Ireland (£4.1 billion), France (£2.7 billion), the United States (£2.4 billion) and the Netherlands (£2.0 billion).
• The main countries of dispatch for imports into the UK were the Netherlands (£7.6 billion), France (£6.3 billion), Belgium (£4.9 billion) and Ireland (£4.8 billion).
• Whisky continued to have the highest export value, totalling £5.8 billion. This was a decrease of 18% compared to the previous year.
• Fresh fruit and vegetables together remained the highest value category for imports, totalling £7.1 billion, a decrease of 2.2%.
• Exports of fresh vegetables fell by 8.9% to £82 million, but exports of fresh fruit rose by 4% to £70 million.

The food chain

• In 2022, the agri-food sector (excluding fishing) in the United Kingdom accounted for a total estimated Gross Value Added (GVA) of £146.7bn or 6.5% of national GVA, an increase of 15% since 2021. (For the overall GVA figure for the agri-food sector, refer to the Food Statistics Pocketbook which includes fishing, adding roughly an extra billion pounds to GVA each year.) The food and drink wholesaling sector increased by 31% between 2021 and 2022. All other sectors also saw an increase.

• Employment in the agri-food sector in Great Britain grew by 3.3% over the 12-month period to the fourth quarter of 2022 to just under 4.2 million. The largest percent change was seen in non-residential catering which rose by 7.9% (144,000 employees).

• Total factor productivity of the food chain increased by 3.7% while there was a decrease of 0.2% in productivity in the wider economy. In the 10 years prior to 2021, the average annual growth rate of the food chain was 0.6% while the wider economy’s average annual growth rate was 0.2%.

• Consumer expenditure on food and alcoholic drinks (at constant prices) decreased by 1.2% from £248.5bn in 2022 to £245.5bn in 2023 and was 14% higher than in 2013. Expenditure on food and drink eaten out increased by 0.6% from £116.9bn in 2022 to £117.6bn in 2023, whilst expenditure on household food decreased by 2.8% from £109.6bn to £106.5bn and expenditure on alcoholic drinks (off-licence only) decreased by 2.8% from £22.0bn to £21.3bn.