Accredited official statistics

Preface

Updated 20 December 2024

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/farm-accounts-in-england/preface--2

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Background

Data on the income of farm businesses are used in conjunction with other agricultural sector information to help inform policy decisions and to help monitor and evaluate current policies relating to agriculture in England. The data also informs wider research into the economic performance of the agricultural industry and are used by the industry for benchmarking purposes.

This release provides further detail behind the income results published on 14 November 2024. Forecasts of income by farm type for the year ending February 2025 and covering the 2024 harvest will be published in March 2025 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/farm-business-income.

Contact details

Responsible statistician: Alison Wray

Public enquiries: fbs.queries@defra.gov.uk

For media queries between 9am and 6pm on weekdays:

Telephone: 0330 041 6560

Email: newsdesk@defra.gov.uk

National Statistics Status

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 January 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 above). 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 improved data presentation to better meet accessibility guidelines

  • Automated production of the statistics using Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP)

  • Reviewed and improved accompanying commentary.

User engagement

As part of our ongoing commitment to compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics we wish to strengthen our engagement with users of these statistics and better understand the use made of them and the types of decisions that they inform.

We invite users to make contact to advise us of the use they do, or might, make of these statistics, and what their wishes are in terms of engagement. Feedback on this statistical release and enquiries about these statistics are also welcome.

A potential change to the survey timetable and publication dates for the 25/26 survey is being considered. This is due to HMRC changes to the tax year which are already having implications on the data collection and the delivery of data. We welcome feedback on any change to our publication dates.

Content of the document

The Farm Business Survey is an annual survey providing information on the financial position, physical characteristics, and economic performance of farm businesses in England. The sample of farm businesses covers all regions of England and all types of farming.

Data for the Farm Business Survey are collected through face-to-face interviews with farmers, conducted by highly trained research officers.

The data are widely used by the industry for benchmarking and inform wider research into the economic performance of the agricultural industry, as well as for evaluating and monitoring current policies. The data will also help to monitor farm businesses throughout the Agricultural Transition period.

The results presented here provide further detail behind the Farm Business Income results published on 14 November 2024. They are sourced from the 2023/24 Farm Business Survey which covers the 2023 harvest and includes the 2023 Basic Payment. The results include a more in depth analysis of the outputs and costs within each farm type (the farm type classification indicates the predominant activity on the farm).

Detailed tables can be found on gov.uk in the Farm Accounts in England dataset. The tables present farm incomes, outputs and costs for farm types and also farm sizes, regions and economic performance groups along with enterprise level gross margins, balance sheet data and flow of fund statements.

The release also includes analysis of diversified activities on farms.

Full details of the definitions used within the Farm Business Survey, including Farm Business Income, can be found on the technical notes and guidance page.

Chapter 1: Key Events
Chapter 2: Key Results and Overview Across All Farms in England
Chapter 3: Cropping Farms
Chapter 4: Livestock Farms
Chapter 5: Diversification

Survey Details and Technical Notes

These points apply throughout:

  1. The England Farm Business Survey is the source for all data presented in tables and charts unless otherwise stated.

  2. All figures relate to England and cover a March to February fiscal year, with the most recent year shown ending in February 2024. Fiscal years are shown in YYYY/YY format, for example, the period of 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024 is shown as 2023/24. To ensure consistency in harvest/crop year and commonality of subsidies within any one FBS year, only farms which have their accounting year ending between 31 December and 30 April are included in the survey. Aggregate results are presented in terms of an accounting year ending on the last day of February, which is the approximate average of all farms in the Farm Business Survey.

  3. Values are expressed as either current or as a real term value:
    - the current (or nominal) value is the value expressed in historical monetary terms
    - the real term value is the current value adjusted to take account of inflation

Availability of results

All Defra statistical notices can be viewed on the Statistics at Defra page.

More publications and results from the Farm Business Survey are available on the Farm Business Survey Collection page.

Farm Accounts in England for 2024/25 is expected to be published in December 2025. The definitive publication date will be announced on the statistics release calendar.

Chapter 1: Key Events →

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