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Chapter 3: Cropping Farms

Updated 21 December 2023

Applies to England

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Chapter 2: Key Results and Overview Across All Farms in England

Chapter 4: Livestock Farms

The following section provides detailed results for each cropping type. Where dataset tables are referred to in the text, these can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/farm-accounts-in-england-data-sets.

Figures are for March to February years, with the most recent year shown ending February 2023. This covers the 2022 harvest and includes the Basic Payment due in the 2022/23 accounting year.

In simple terms, Farm Business Income is the output generated by the farm business minus total farm costs. For the full definition of Farm Business Income see the technical notes and guidance page.

Farm Business Income can be considered as comprising income from four different parts of the business: agriculture, agri-environment, diversification and the Basic Payment Scheme. These are known as cost centres. However, as the methodology to allocate costs to each of the cost centres involves a degree of estimation, results should be interpreted with caution. Details on the methodology can be found in the FBS technical notes and guidance.

Figure 3.1: Average Farm Business Income for cropping farms in England, broken down by cost centres, 2021/22 and 2022/23

Source: Dataset table 5

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row from left to right, then the bottom row from left to right)

2. The data shown are the averages across all farms in the sample, including those that do not have any income within some of the cost centres

Figure 3.2 Input cost breakdown by farm type in England, 2022/23

Source: Dataset table 6

Figure note: The legend is presented in the same order as the bars

Figure 3.2 shows a breakdown of the key components of overall input costs by farm type. A more disaggregated breakdown at the all farm level can be found in dataset table 5.

Cereal farms

On cereal farms, average Farm Business Income increased by a quarter in 2022/23 to £150,400 (Figure 3.1, dataset tables 1.1 and 5.1). The increase was primarily driven by higher crop output, most noticeably from wheat, barley and oilseed rape (dataset table 5.2). Generally favourable conditions resulted in increased yields (Table 3.1) and the average area per farm of wheat and oilseed rape was also larger (dataset table 11). These factors combined with higher prices (Figure 3.3) and tight global supplies (both influenced by the war in Ukraine) led to a 36% rise in overall crop output. This rise more than offset increased input costs, which rose across the board. Variable costs were 31% higher with substantial increases to fertilisers (which rose by 56% reflecting uncertainties around supplies in Europe and higher energy prices), contract costs and crop protection costs. The main rises to fixed costs were for machinery and general farming costs which increased by 26% and 25% respectively. Figure 3.2 shows a breakdown of the key components of overall input costs.

Overall, cereal farms achieved a positive return on their agricultural activities of £80,200, an increase of 46% compared to £54,900 in 2021/22 (Figure 3.1), but comparing by farm performance groups (based on the ratio of outputs to inputs) the picture is mixed. For the lowest 25% of farms, the return from agricultural activities remained negative in 2022/23 and losses increased compared to 2021/22. At the same time, for medium performing farms the average return from agriculture was £56,000, a 42% increase on 2021/22, while high performing farms saw a 46% increase to £222,500 (dataset table 7.2).

At £11,600, income from agri-environment activities nearly doubled compared to the previous year. The Basic Payment fell by 9% with the second year of progressive reduction to the payment partially mitigated by an increase in average farmed area on cereal farms. When considered on a per hectare (rather than per farm) basis, the reduction in the Basic Payment was around 18% per hectare. Income from diversified activities was £26,000, 11% higher than 2021/22, with lower associated costs and higher revenue from building rental and renewable energy helping to offset falls in output from food processing and retailing and other diversified activities.

Figure 3.3: Average wheat prices in England and Wales, March 2021 to February 2023

Source: Monthly Corn Returns

Table 3.1: Average crop yields, 2016 to 2022 (tonnes per hectare)

Crop	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Wheat (England)	7.9	8.3	7.8	9.0	6.9	7.8	8.6
Winter barley (England)	6.4	6.9	6.8	7.8	6.0	6.6	7.3
Spring barley (England)	5.7	5.5	5.0	6.4	5.4	5.6	5.9
Oilseed rape (England)	3.1	3.8	3.4	3.3	2.6	3.1	3.7
Potatoes (UK)	44.9	49.1	41.6	45.4	46.1	45.8	41.8
Sugar beet (UK)	71.2	83.4	69.1	77.7	56.6	81.1	68.9

Source: Defra (Cereal and Oilseed rape, Potato and Sugar beet)

Table notes: Potato and Sugar beet yields are provisional for 2022

Figure 3.4: Proportion of winter wheat produced by cost of production (in £ per tonne) in England, 2022 harvest

Source: Farm Business Survey England

Figure note: The legend is presented in the same order as the bars

Figure 3.4 shows the proportion of winter wheat grown in England for the 2022 harvest within different bands of production costs. The average production cost for winter wheat was approximately £183 per tonne, whilst the average selling price was around £241 per tonne (dataset table 11).

General cropping farms

The average Farm Business Income (FBI) for general cropping farms fell by 14% in 2022/23 to £125,200 (Figure 3.1 and dataset table 5.4). In value terms, the Basic Payment cost centre saw the biggest reduction with the second year of progressive reduction to the payment compounded by a smaller average farm area compared to 2021/22. Combined, these factors resulted in a £15,300 (31%) reduction to the average payment. Considering the payment on a per hectare rather than per farm basis helps to remove the impact of any changes in farm area. When considered on this basis, the Basic Payment was 18% lower.

Agricultural output per farm fell by 5% with higher output from barley, other cereals and oilseed rape (driven by both price and yield, Figures 3.4 and 3.5 and Table 3.1) offset by decreases for other crops, sugar beet and potatoes (which were impacted by the summer drought conditions and, for sugar beet, also winter frosts). As with cereal farms, there was a substantial rise to fertiliser costs which increased by 31%, although this was mitigated by falls for some other inputs such as seed, other crop costs and regular labour (dataset table 5.6). Overall, agricultural costs fell, but to a lesser extent than output, meaning the return from agricultural activities was 7% lower than 2021/22.

There was virtually no change in income from diversified activities with increases in output from renewable energy, other diversified activities, food processing and retailing offsetting lower output from recreation and renting out buildings. Income from the agri-environment cost centre fell by 6% to £12,400.

Figure 3.5: Average oilseed rape prices in England, March 2021 to February 2023

Sources: Farmers Weekly; Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

When comparing farm performance groups (based on the ratio of outputs to inputs), the average FBI for the lowest 25% of farms moved to an average loss of £29,100 in 2022/23 from a positive return of £3,700 in 2021/22 (dataset table 7.4). As with cereals farms, low performers also failed to generate a positive income from the agricultural cost centre and losses increased. For medium performers, income from agricultural activities fell by 2%, but for the highest 25% of general cropping farms income from the agriculture cost centre rose by 22% to £174,300.

Mixed farms

Average Farm Business Income on mixed farms fell by 8% to £68,000 in 2022/23 (dataset table 5.22). Although agricultural output rose by 16%, this was not enough to offset a 17% increase in input costs. The rise in costs was largely driven by higher variable costs which increased by 28% with purchased feed and fodder a key driver and, to a lesser extent, fertiliser and casual labour. Fixed costs were 6% higher compared to 2021/22. Overall, the average return on agricultural activities on mixed farms was £12,600 compared to £16,100 in 2021/22. Payments for agri-environment activities rose by 36% to £10,100, while income from diversified activities was 6% higher at £19,000. On this type of farm, the average Basic Payment fell by a fifth to £26,200 in 2022/23 (dataset table 5.22).

Horticulture farms

For horticulture farms, average Farm Business Income (FBI) increased by 58% to £95,600 in 2022/23 (dataset table 5.25). This was due to a higher output from agricultural and diversified activities combined. Output increased across a range of crops, most notably outdoor and glasshouse flowers, bulbs and nursery stock and outdoor vegetables. This more than offset falls for soft and top fruit enterprises. Many agricultural inputs costs rose steeply, both fixed and variable; seed costs increased by 87% while both contract costs and machinery costs more than doubled and regular labour was 78% higher. However, the rise in agricultural output more than offset these increases. Output from diversified activities, often an important source of revenue for horticulture farms, rose by 53% with renewable energy, other diversified activities and building rental contributing most to the increase. Overall, the net contribution of diversified activities to FBI increased to £41,200 (Figure 3.1 and dataset table 5.26).

Back to contents

Chapter 2: Key Results and Overview Across All Farms in England

Chapter 4: Livestock Farms