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Chapter 3: Cropping Farms

Updated 20 December 2024

Applies to England

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← Chapter 2: Key Results and Overview Across England

The following section provides detailed results for each cropping farm 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 2024. This covers the 2023 harvest and includes the Basic Payment due in the 2023/24 accounting year.

Figure 3.1: Average Farm Business Income for cropping farms in England, broken down by cost centres, 2022/23 and 2023/24

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), except for cereal, mixed and all type farms, where the values for the agriculture cost centre are negative.
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.

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 under in the FBS technical notes and guidance.

Figure 3.2 Input cost breakdown by farm type in England, 2023/24

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

Average Farm Business Income for cereal farms fell by almost three quarters in 2023/24 to £39,400 (Figure 3.1, dataset tables 1.1 and 5.1). The decrease, which follows two years of exceptional highs for this type of farm, was largely driven by a fall in crop output of 19%, coupled with higher input costs (dataset table 5.2). Output from wheat fell by just under a quarter. Although smaller yields and crop area were contributing factors (Table 3.1 and dataset table 11), the key driver was a drop in average prices (Figure 3.3) which, with adaptation to the situation in Ukraine, returned to levels close to those seen in 2021/22. Output from barley and oilseed rape also fell, driven by reductions to both yields and average prices (Figure 3.5). Variable costs rose by 27%, with the greatest increases for fertilisers and crop protection which went up by 44% and 22% respectively. Fixed costs increased, most notably for machinery (depreciation and running costs) and general farming costs(dataset table 5.3). Figure 3.2 shows a breakdown of the key components of overall input costs.

Figure 3.3: Average wheat prices in England and Wales, March 2022 to February 2024

Source: Monthly Corn Returns.

Table 3.1: Average crop yields, 2017 to 2023 (tonnes per hectare)

Crop	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Wheat (England)	8.3	7.8	9.0	6.9	7.8	8.6	8.1
Winter barley (England)	6.9	6.8	7.8	6.0	6.6	7.3	7.0
Spring barley (England)	5.5	5.0	6.4	5.4	5.6	5.9	5.1
Oilseed rape (England)	3.8	3.4	3.3	2.6	3.1	3.7	3.0
Potatoes (UK)	49.1	41.6	45.4	46.1	45.8	42.0	47.8
Sugarbeet (UK)	83.4	69.1	77.7	56.6	81.1	63.9	78.2

Source: Defra statistics, Cereal and Oilseed rape Production, Agriculture in the UK

Table notes: Potato and Sugarbeet yields are provisional for 2023.

Figure 3.4: Proportion of winter wheat produced by cost of production (in £ per tonne) in England, 2023 harvest

Figure notes:
1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

Figure 3.4 shows the proportion of winter wheat grown in England for the harvest within different bands of production costs. Based on enterprise data from the Farm Business Survey, the average selling price for wheat was around £201 per tonne. Around a fifth of farms producing winter wheat did so at a cost of less than the average selling price, this accounted for around a third of winter wheat produced in 2023/24.

Overall, cereal farms failed to make a positive return on their agricultural activities in 2023/24 with an average loss of £26,400 (Figure 3.1). When comparing farm performance groups (based on the ratio of outputs to inputs) only the top 25% of cereal farms made a positive return from agriculture and, at £47,600, this was substantially lower than the 2022/23 average of £218,100. Medium performing farms moved from a positive return from agriculture of £55,000 in 2022/23 to an average loss of £44,800. For the lowest performing 25% of farms, the return from agricultural activities remained negative and losses increased to an average £64,100 (dataset table 7.2).

The average Basic Payment was £26,100, 18% lower than 2022/23. When considered on a per hectare (rather than per farm) basis, the reduction in the Basic Payment was around 22% per hectare. Income from agri-environment activities rose by 18% to £13,200. The net contribution of diversified activities was £26,500, which was a 4% increase on 2022/23 with higher output from food processing and retailing and other diversified activities helping to offset increases to associated costs.

General cropping farms

In 2023/24, average Farm Business Income on general cropping farms fell by almost a quarter to £95,300 (Figure 3.1 and dataset table 5.4). Output from agriculture fell by 7%. As with cereal farms, lower output from cereals and oilseed rape was a key factor, but on general cropping farms this was partially offset by increases for potatoes and sugar beet. Output from potatoes rose by 59% reflecting substantially higher prices which increased by an average of 40% per tonne. Sugar beet output was 61% higher than 2022/23 (when the crop was impacted by drought), supported by higher prices and yields (Table 3.1 and dataset table 11). At the same time, in contrast to cereal farms, input costs fell. Variable costs were 4% lower with seed, crop protection and (for general cropping farms with livestock) livestock specific costs seeing the biggest reductions. Fixed costs were 2% lower (dataset table 5.6).

The Basic Payment fell by 29% in 2023/24 (the third year of the progressive reductions to the payment). On a per hectare basis, the average Basic Payment was 22% lower than 2022/23. Average income from diversification rose by 5%; higher revenue from building rental, renewable energy and other diversified activities helped offset falls in output from tourism and food processing and retailing. Income from agri-environment activities decreased by 8% to £11,700.

Figure 3.5: Average oilseed rape prices in England, March 2022 to February 2024

Sources: Farmers Weekly; Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

When analysed by performance bands (based on the ratio of outputs to inputs), lower performing farms saw losses on their agricultural activities increase slightly to £72,400 (dataset table 7.4). This group also failed to make a positive return on their business as a whole with an average loss of £35,700 (compared to a loss of £19,200 in 2022/23). Agricultural income fell by just under a quarter for medium performers to £41,700, while for high performing farms the return on agriculture was £107,000, a 36% decrease compared to 2022/23.

Mixed farms

Average Farm Business Income for mixed farms fell by just over two thirds to £22,700 in 2023/24 (dataset table 5.22). Agricultural output was 8% lower with a fall in crop output of 10% accounting for the majority of the decrease; although output from potatoes more than doubled compared to 2022/23, this was not enough to offset falls for wheat and barley enterprises. Similarly, despite higher revenue from sheep and cattle enterprises, livestock output overall was 6% lower reflecting a decrease in poultry output, particularly from broiler enterprises. A fall in variable costs was more than cancelled out by higher fixed costs (general farming, net interest payments and labour costs), which rose by 18%. These factors combined meant that the net contribution of agricultural activities to Farm Business Income fell to minus £32,900.

Income from the diversification cost centre was £22,500 (an increase of 23% compared to 2022/23) with tourism and building rental the main drivers. Agri-environment payments rose by 21% to £11,500 while the Basic Payment was £21,600 (dataset table 5.22). This equated to a reduction of 20% when calculated on a per hectare basis.

Horticulture farms

For horticulture farms, average Farm Business Income fell by 38% between 2022/23 and 2023/24 to £59,100 (dataset table 5.25). There were falls in net income across all cost centres (agriculture, agri-environment, the Basic Payment and diversification) but reduced income from diversified activities, often an important source of revenue for this type of farm, had the biggest impact. Lower output from building rental, renewable energy and other diversified activities contributed to a 67% fall in income from diversification which was £14,600 in 2023/24 compared to £43,500 in 2022/23 (Figure 3.1 and dataset table 5.26).

Even though agricultural costs fell by 25%, this was not enough to mitigate a much bigger fall in output; with the exception of top fruit, output fell for most key horticultural enterprises, most notably for outdoor flowers, bulbs and nursery stock and outdoor vegetables. Agri-environment payments fell by 31% to £2,600, while the Basic Payment was 48% lower than 2022/23 at £1,700 (this equated to a 9% decrease when calculated on a per hectare basis).

Chapter 4: Livestock Farms →