Accredited official statistics

Farm Rents in England, 2023/24 – statistics notice

Updated 23 January 2025

Applies to England

Data on farm rents are used by tenant farmers and landlords to set rents and by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to inform decisions on statutory succession.

This release provides estimates of average annual farm rents in England paid under Full Agricultural Tenancies, Farm Business Tenancies, informal agreements and seasonal agreements for the average period 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024, together with the area of land covered by these agreements.

The survey period covered the third year of the progressive reduction of the Basic Payment, which saw a 20% reduction on the first £30,000 of the payment and larger incremental deductions on the bigger payment bands (see Annex D of The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024).

For more detail on 2023/24 Farm Business Income, see Farm Accounts in England.

Points which apply throughout

1. The Farm Business Survey is the source for all data presented in tables and charts, unless otherwise stated.
2. All figures relate to England, unless otherwise stated, and cover a March to February fiscal year, with the most recent year shown ending in February. 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 Farm Business Survey year, only farms which have accounting years 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. Standard FBS practice is to report the comparisons between the latest and previous survey years at current prices, whilst longer term series are presented in real terms. However, when adjusting 2022/23 figures for inflation in this publication, some trends in the two-year comparisons became different to the trend in current prices. In these cases, both sets of numbers are discussed. All current and real values are available in the dataset.
   • current (or nominal) values are the values expressed in historical monetary terms
   • real term values are the current values adjusted to take inflation into account, scaled using a GDP deflator
4. When ‘other’ farms are mentioned, this refers to the following farm types which have been combined into one group due to small sample sizes: mixed, horticulture, poultry and pig farms. These farms are not explicitly presented in the figures, but have been included in the ‘All farms’ group, and are available as ‘other’ farms in the ‘Farm Rents in England 2023/24 - dataset’ file.
5. The acronym ‘LFA’ refers to Less Favoured Area. These areas were established in 1975 to provide support to mountainous and hill farming areas. They are areas where the natural characteristics (geology, altitude, climate, short growing season, low soil fertility, or remoteness) make it difficult for farmers to compete.
6. Calculations have been made using unrounded values and then rounded to the nearest whole number, unless stated otherwise.
7. Where dataset tables are referred to in the text, this refers to the ‘Farm Rents in England 2023/24 - dataset’ file, which can be found on the publication landing page.

Key results

• The average annual rent for Full Agricultural Tenancy (FAT) agreements in 2023/24, in current prices, increased by 5% compared to 2022/23. Of the different farm types, cereal farms saw the largest percentage rise, increasing by 7%. However, after adjusting for inflation, there was a real terms decrease of 1% at the all farm level.
• For Farm Business Tenancy (FBT) agreements, average rent rose by 3% in current prices. Again, cereal farms had the largest percentage increase, rising by 8%. In real terms, the average FBT rent fell by 3%, with only cereal farms seeing an increase.
• Average rent for informal agreements saw an increase of 4% in current prices, rising to its highest nominal value in the last decade. Amongst all farm types, dairy farms had the highest average rent under informal agreements.
• Seasonal agreements average rent rose by 8%, but remained the lowest average rent across all agreement types. Cereal farms had the largest increase of the different farm types, rising by £56 per hectare.

1 All agreement types

The total number of farm tenancy agreements in England in 2023/24 was approximately 83,000, a decrease of 5% from the total number of agreements in 2022/23.

Figure 1.1 Total number of farm tenancy agreements by agreement type in England, 2014/15 to 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The breaks in the series shown in 2017/18 and 2022/23 represent changes in the method used to assign farms to a specific farm type. At these breaks, average rent per hectare has been calculated using both methods for comparability.
2. Before 2015/16, FBT included Farm Business Tenancies and similar informal agreements. Informal agreements in this context were those that are based on the same principles as an FBT but without the accompanying legal documentation.

The breakdown of the total number of farm tenancy agreements by agreement type is shown in Figure 1.1. Between 2022/23 and 2023/24, all agreement types declined in number. The tenancy type with the highest number of agreements continued to be FBTs in 2023/24 at approximately 32,000. FATs and seasonal agreements remained the least frequent, at around 12,000 and 13,000 respectively.

1.1 Total rent paid

The total annual rent paid varies considerably between different farm tenancy agreements, with FBTs generally being on the higher end and seasonal agreements on the lower end.

Table 1.1 Total annual rent paid for farm tenancies at current prices in British pounds (£ millions) by agreement type in England, 2022/23 to 2023/24

Tenancy	2022/23 (£ millions)	2023/24 (£ millions)	Percentage change (% points)	95% Confidence Interval 2023/24 (£ millions)
All agreements	739	740	0%	657 to 823
FAT	193	197	+2%	159 to 234
FBT	353	372	+5%	309 to 436
Informal	102	100	-2%	83 to 118
Seasonal	28	29	+6%	23 to 35

Table notes:

1. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
2. Values have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
3. The values in this table are based on 2017 Standard Output Coefficients, which refers to the change in method by which farms were assigned to each farm type. For more detail, see Changes to Farm Typology.
4. All agreements includes other agreements not shown individually, so these totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components.

Table 1.1 shows that between 2022/23 and 2023/24, the total annual rent (at current prices) paid under seasonal agreements had the largest percentage increase, rising by 6% to £29 million. In comparison, total annual rent for informal agreements fell by 2% to £100 million.

Figure 1.2 Total annual rent paid for farm tenancies at real term 2023/24 prices in British pounds (£ millions) by agreement type in England, 2014/15 to 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The breaks in the series shown in 2017/18 and 2022/23 represent changes in the method used to assign farms to a specific farm type. At these breaks, average rent per hectare has been calculated using both methods for comparability.
2. Before 2015/16, FBT included Farm Business Tenancies and similar informal agreements. Informal agreements in this context were those that are based on the same principles as an FBT but without the accompanying legal documentation.
3. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
4. The current prices time series is available in table 2 of the dataset.

Figure 1.2 shows that the overall trend of total annual rent paid in real term prices has generally decreased in the last 10 years, including between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 survey years, despite the current terms increases in table 1.1. In all years, FBTs had the highest rent paid and seasonal agreements had the lowest. However, rent on FBTs has been trending down in real terms since 2018/19. The rent paid on seasonal agreements in real term prices has been relatively stable over the years. Conversely, the difference between total rent paid on FATs and informal agreements, which was initially large, has been getting smaller due to rent paid on FATs decreasing and rent paid on informal agreements increasing.

1.2 Average rent paid per hectare

There is generally less variation in the average annual rent paid per hectare between farm tenancy agreements, though it tends to be higher for FBTs and informal agreements than for FATs and seasonal agreements.

Table 1.2 Average annual rents for farm tenancies at current prices in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) by agreement type in England, 2022/23 to 2023/24

Tenancy	2022/23 (£/ha)	2023/24 (£/ha)	Percentage change (% points)	95% Confidence Interval 2023/24 (£/ha)
All agreements	212	217	+3%	197 to 237
FAT	171	180	+5%	144 to 216
FBT	223	229	+3%	202 to 256
Informal	227	236	+4%	206 to 265
Seasonal	157	169	+8%	148 to 189

Table notes:

1. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
2. Values have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
3. The values in this table are based on 2017 Standard Output Coefficients, which refers to the change in method by which farms were assigned to each farm type. For more detail, see Changes to Farm Typology.
4. The real term prices time series is available in table 3 of the dataset.

Table 1.2 shows that the average annual rent per hectare, at current prices, paid under seasonal agreements had the largest percentage increase between 2022/23 and 2023/24, rising 8% to £169 per hectare. FBTs saw the smallest increase over the same period, rising by 3% to £229 per hectare.

Figure 1.3 Average annual rents for farm tenancies at real term 2023/24 prices in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) by agreement type in England, 2014/15 to 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The breaks in the series shown in 2017/18 and 2022/23 represent changes in the method used to assign farms to a specific farm type. At these breaks, average rent per hectare has been calculated using both methods for comparability.
2. Before 2015/16, FBT included Farm Business Tenancies and similar informal agreements. Informal agreements in this context were those that are based on the same principles as an FBT but without the accompanying legal documentation.
3. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
4. The current term prices time series is available in table 3 of the dataset.

The real terms trends, shown in figure 1.3, differ from the current term trends shown in table 1.2. The average FAT rent per hectare was virtually unchanged in real terms, and only seasonal agreements saw a real terms increase. While there has been fluctuation over the years, FBT and informal agreements had the largest average rent in 2023/24, at £229 and £236 per hectare respectively. FAT and seasonal agreements had lower average rents, at £180 and £169 per hectare respectively.

Figure 1.4 Average annual rent for farm tenancies in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) in current values by agreement type and region in England, 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. The symbol [c] indicates that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size; suppressed values are included in the ‘All regions’ averages.
4. The error bars are large due to these estimates retaining all farm types, including mixed, horticulture, poultry and pig farms for which rents tend to be more variable (see section 7.2 for more details).
5. The real term prices time series is available in table 4 of the dataset.

Average annual rent per hectare tends to be higher for FBTs than for FATs. Figure 1.4 shows that this was true for all regions in 2023/24 except for London & South East, in which average rent for FATs was slightly higher. The East Midlands had the highest average rent for both FBTs and informal agreements, at £283 and £298 per hectare respectively. When comparing the average rents for the same agreement type across regions, there was considerable variation in rents for all agreement types. This reflects factors such as the quality of the land and that agreements may be for land only, or may also include any combination of dwellings, buildings and other assets.

Figure 1.5 Average annual rent for farm tenancies in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) in current values by agreement type and farm type in England, 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. The symbol [c] indicates that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size; suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.
4. The real term prices time series is available in table 5 of the dataset.

Figure 1.5 shows that across all agreement types, the average annual rent was generally lowest in grazing livestock farms, with the lowest average rent being for LFA grazing livestock farms under FATs, at £53 per hectare. Dairy farms under informal agreements saw the highest average annual rent, at £375 per hectare.

1.3 Recorded rent reviews

A recorded rent review refers to the formal and documented process used to evaluate and potentially adjust the rental amount for farmland. A recorded change to terms and conditions signifies a documented modification to the specific details of the rental arrangement, which may include alterations to rent, lease duration, responsibilities or other agreed-upon terms.

Figure 1.6 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for Full Agricultural Tenancies and Farm Business Tenancies by agreements including a recorded rent review or change to terms and conditions in England, 2022/23 to 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 7 of the dataset.

Between 2022/23 and 2023/24, the average rent per hectare for FAT agreements with a recorded rent review increased by 52% to £207 per hectare (a 43% real terms increase). Conversely, the average rent for agreements with a recorded change to terms and conditions decreased by 17% to £154 per hectare (a 22% decrease in real terms).

For FBT agreements, the average rent per hectare with a recorded rent review decreased by 4% to £253 per hectare between 2022/23 and 2023/24 (a 9% decrease in real terms). On the other hand, the average rent for agreements with a recorded change to terms and conditions more than doubled to £244 per hectare.

1.4 Land only agreements

Tenancy agreements may relate only to land or include any combination of dwellings, buildings and other assets.

Figure 1.7 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for land only agreements by tenancy agreement in England, 2022/23 to 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 6 of the dataset.

Between 2022/23 and 2023/24, the average rent per hectare for land only FAT agreements increased by 15% to £234 per hectare (an 8% increase in real terms). The average rent for land only informal agreements increased by 5% to £214 per hectare, however, in real terms, the average decreased by 1%.

1.5 Basic Payment Scheme

Figure 1.8 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for agreements with Basic Payment Scheme inclusion by tenancy agreement in England, 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. A full time series of this data can be found in table 8 of the dataset.

Tenancy agreements may include Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements, which historically were the largest rural payment scheme providing financial support to the farmers and are now being phased out as part of the Agricultural Transition.

2 Full Agricultural Tenancies

Agricultural tenancies agreed before 1 September 1995 are known as Full Agricultural Tenancies (FATs). These tenancies usually have lifetime security of tenure and those granted before 12 July 1984 also carry statutory succession rights, on death or retirement.

Table 2.1 Total area of rented land under Full Agricultural Tenancies in hectares (million ha) by farm type in England, 2021 to 2023

Farm type	2021 (million ha)	2022 (million ha)	2023 (million ha)	Change from 2022 to 2023 (% points)
Cereals	0.40	0.40	0.39	-1%
General Cropping	0.17	0.16	0.15	-9%
Dairy	0.10	0.09	0.09	-5%
LFA Grazing Livestock	0.24	0.23	0.22	-4%
Lowland Grazing Livestock	0.14	0.14	0.14	-2%
All farms	1.22	1.20	1.15	-4%

Source: June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture

Table notes:

1. Figures relate to commercial holdings only. Commercial holdings are those with significant levels of farming activities; for further details please see the June Survey methodology.
2. Respondents were asked to provide information as of 1 June of each year.
3. Areas have been rounded to two decimal places, and percentages to the nearest whole number.
4. All farms includes other farms not shown individually, so these totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components.

Table 2.1 shows that the total area of land under FATs had decreased by 4% between June 2022 and June 2023, to around 1.15 million hectares. All farm types saw a decrease, with the largest being in general cropping farms, whose total area of land under FATs fell by 9% to approximately 150 thousand hectares.

Figure 2.1 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for Full Agricultural Tenancies by farm type in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 5 of the dataset.

Figure 2.1 shows that, between 2022/23 and 2023/24, cereal farms saw the largest current prices increase in average FAT rent, rising by 7% to £235 per hectare, however, in real terms it remained unchanged. LFA grazing livestock farms saw the largest fall, dropping by 12% to £53 per hectare in current prices (a 17% decrease in real terms). In current prices, the smallest change was in lowland grazing livestock farms, where average FAT rent rose by 1% to £189, however, this changed to a 5% fall when adjusted for inflation.

Figure 2.2 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for Full Agricultural Tenancies by region in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 4 of the dataset.

Figure 2.2 shows that, from 2022/23 to 2023/24, the London & South East region saw the largest increase in average FAT rent, a rise of 25% to £223 per hectare (an 18% real terms increase), whilst the North West saw the largest drop, a fall of 14% to £91 per hectare (a 19% real terms decrease). In current prices, the South West saw near-zero change in average FAT rent, remaining at £193 per hectare, but had a real terms decrease of 5%.

3 Farm Business Tenancies

Agricultural tenancies agreed since 1 September 1995 under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995, are known as Farm Business Tenancies (FBTs).

Before the 2015/16 survey, the Farm Business Survey included similar informal agreements within the definition of FBT agreements. Informal agreements in this context were those based on the same principles as an FBT but without the accompanying legal documentation. In 2015/16, the classification of agreements was changed to improve the collection and reporting of data. The FBT agreements now reported here for 2015/16 to 2023/24 are defined as being written or unwritten for any period subject to the provisions of the Act. This will include formal FBTs that have rolled on informally, but in law are still regarded as FBTs.

Informal agreements where there is no formal tenancy agreement, but the land is part of the Utilised Agricultural Area (i.e. not seasonally let) are now being separately recorded and reported. The results presented in this section exclude these informal agreements. Whilst this change has resulted in some reclassification of agreements, it has had a minimal impact on the average FBT results. Including those FBTs now classified as ‘informal’ does not change the average rent per hectare in 2015/16.

The average length of term for FBT agreements was 6 years and 2 months. Since 2014/15, the average annual rent per hectare for FBTs has generally been higher than all other agreement types, however in recent years informal agreements had slightly higher or similar rent on average.

Table 3.1 Total area of rented land under Farm Business Tenancies in England in hectares (million ha) by farm type in England, 2021 to 2023

Farm type	2021 (million ha)	2022 (million ha)	2023 (million ha)	Change from 2022 to 2023 (% points)
Cereals	0.37	0.39	0.40	+3%
General Cropping	0.18	0.18	0.18	-5%
Dairy	0.13	0.13	0.13	-1%
LFA Grazing Livestock	0.20	0.21	0.21	-2%
Lowland Grazing Livestock	0.18	0.18	0.18	-1%
All farms	1.24	1.27	1.26	-1%

Source: June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture

Table notes:

1. Figures relate to commercial holdings only. Commercial holdings are those with significant levels of farming activities; for further details please see the June Survey methodology.
2. Respondents were asked to provide information as of 1 June of each year.
3. Areas have been rounded to two decimal places, and percentages to the nearest whole number.
4. All farms includes other farms not shown individually, so these totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components.

Table 3.1 shows that the total area of land under FBTs had decreased by 1% between June 2022 and June 2023, to around 1.26 million hectares. However, this value increased for cereal farms by 3%, to 400 thousand hectares. The largest percentage decrease was seen in general cropping farms, which fell by 5% to 180 thousand hectares.

Figure 3.1 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for Farm Business Tenancies by farm type in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 5 of the dataset.

Figure 3.1 shows that, between 2022/23 and 2023/24, cereal farms saw the largest percentage increase in average FBT rent at current prices, rising by 8% to £253 per hectare. However, in real terms this was a 2% increase. Lowland grazing livestock farms saw the largest percentage decrease, dropping by 7% to £123 per hectare in current prices (a 12% decrease in real terms). In current prices, the smallest percentage change was in dairy farms, where average FBT rent remained unchanged, however, this became a 6% fall when adjusted for inflation.

Figure 3.2 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for Farm Business Tenancies by region in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 4 of the dataset.

Figure 3.2 shows that, from 2022/23 to 2023/24, the West Midlands region saw the largest increase in average FBT rent, a rise of 9% to £267 per hectare (a 3% real terms increase). In current prices, the South West saw the biggest decrease in FBT rent, falling 6% to £231 per hectare (a 12% decrease when adjusted for inflation).

4 Informal agreements

In 2015/16, there was an improvement to the way in which tenancy agreements were classified in the Farm Business Survey. A new category of ‘informal agreements’ was introduced. These informal agreements are those where there is no formal tenancy agreement but the land is part of the Utilised Agricultural Area (i.e. not seasonally let). This resulted in the reclassification of a number of agreements.

The average length of term for informal agreements was 1 year and 8 months in 2023/24. The average annual rent for informal agreements was the highest it had been since the category was introduced in the 2015/16 survey year, at £236 per hectare in current prices (figure 1.4).

Figure 4.1 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for informal agreements by farm type in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 5 of the dataset.

Figure 4.1 shows that, between 2022/23 and 2023/24, general cropping farms saw the largest percentage increase in average informal rent at current prices, rising by 14% to £356 per hectare. However, in real terms this was an 8% increase. Cereal farms saw the largest percentage decrease, dropping by 10% to £226 per hectare in current prices (a 15% decrease in real terms). In current prices, the smallest percentage change was in LFA grazing livestock farms, where average informal rent fell by 3% to £114 (a 9% decrease when adjusted for inflation).

Figure 4.2 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for informal agreements by region in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. For the 2022/23 survey year, prices are presented in both current and real terms to clearly show changes between the previous year and the current survey year. The darker shade of blue represents the value in current terms, while the lighter shade represents the real terms value. Confidence intervals are only presented in current terms.
4. Real terms prices use the latest GDP deflator data, published December 2024.
5. A full time series of this data can be found in table 4 of the dataset.

Figure 4.2 shows that, from 2022/23 to 2023/24, the East Midlands region saw the largest increase in average informal rent, a rise of 15% to £298 per hectare (an 8% real terms increase). In current prices, the West Midlands saw the biggest decrease in informal rent, falling 5% to £255 per hectare (a 10% decrease when adjusted for inflation).

5 Seasonal agreements

Seasonal agreements are farm tenancies where the length of term is less than 12 months. These include licenses for grazing and/or mowing only and may include BPS entitlements. As noted in the previous section, there were changes to the way in which agreement types were classified within the Farm Business Survey in 2015/16.

This resulted in some seasonal agreements being reclassified as informal agreements. Results for 2015/16 have previously been calculated based on both the 2014/15 and 2015/16 agreement classifications to provide comparable results. In practice, the averages calculated in this way are similar and well within the annual confidence intervals.

Where recorded, the average length of term for seasonal agreements was 10 months in 2023/24. The average annual rent for seasonal agreements increased by 8% to £169 (table 1.2 and Figure 1.4)

Figure 5.1 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for seasonal agreements by farm type in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. The symbol [c] indicates that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size; suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 5.1 shows that, between 2022/23 and 2023/24, cereal farms saw the largest percentage increase in average seasonal rent at current prices, rising by 40% to £194 per hectare. However, in real terms this was a 32% increase. Lowland grazing livestock farms saw the largest percentage decrease, dropping by 9% to £114 per hectare in current prices (a 18% decrease when adjusted for inflation).

Figure 5.2 Average annual rent in British pounds per hectare (£/ha) for seasonal agreements by region in England, 2022/23 and 2023/24

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars.
2. 95% confidence intervals indicate a plausible range within which the true population average may lie, reflecting the uncertainty due to sampling variability in the estimate; see section 7.3 for more details.
3. The symbol [c] indicates that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size; suppressed values are included in the ‘All regions’ averages.

Figure 5.2 shows that, from 2022/23 to 2023/24, the North West region saw the largest increase in average seasonal rent, a rise of 33% to £221 per hectare (an 25% real terms increase). In current prices, the West Midlands saw the biggest decrease in informal rent, falling 3% to £183 per hectare (an 8% decrease when adjusted for inflation).

6 What you need to know about this release

6.1 Contact details

Responsible statistician: Rakin Ahad

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

6.2 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.

6.3 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.

6.4 Survey content, methodology and data uses

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.

6.5 Availability of results

The datasets covering the average rent paid, average rents per hectare and other related datasets can be found on the Farm Rents section from the Farm Business Survey Collection page, where all other results from the Farm Business Survey can also be found.

All Defra statistical notices can be viewed on the Statistics at Defra page.\n\nMore publications and results from the Farm Business Survey are available on the Farm Business Survey Collection page.

7 Technical note

7.1 Survey coverage and weighting

The Farm Business Survey only includes farm businesses with a Standard Output of at least 25 thousand Euros, based on activity recorded in the previous June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture. In 2023/24, the sample of 1,373 farms represented approximately 51,300 farm businesses in England.

Initial weights are applied to the Farm Business Survey records based on the inverse sampling fraction for each design stratum (farm type and farm size). Dataset Table 16 within the Farm Accounts in England Dataset shows the distribution of the sample compared with the distribution of businesses from the 2021 June Census of Agriculture and Horticulture. These initial weights are then adjusted, using calibration weighting, so that they can produce unbiased estimates of a number of different target variables. More detailed information about the Farm Business Survey can be found on the technical notes and guidance page. This includes information on the data collected, information on calibration weighting and definitions used within the Farm Business Survey.

Results show the average rent paid in British pounds per hectare over the period of a specified year. They cover a wide range of rental agreements including those that are land only and those that include dwellings, farm buildings and other assets. To give an indication of the difference in rents, results have also been produced to show average values for ‘land only’ agreements.

7.2 Definitions

Full Agricultural Tenancy

Any agricultural tenancy agreed before 1 September 1995 is known as a Full Agricultural Tenancy (FAT). These tenancies usually have lifetime security of tenure and those granted before 12 July 1984 also carry statutory succession rights on death or retirement.

Farm Business Tenancy

A tenancy is a Farm Business Tenancy (FBT) if at least part of the tenanted land is farmed throughout the life of the tenancy. The tenancy must also meet one of these two conditions:

• if the tenancy is primarily agricultural to start with, the landlord and tenant can exchange notices before the tenancy begins confirming they intend it to remain a Farm Business Tenancy throughout; this allows tenants to diversify away from agriculture within the terms of the tenancy agreement
• if the landlord and tenant do not exchange notices before the tenancy begins, the tenancy business must be primarily agricultural to be considered a Farm Business Tenancy

Informal agreement

An agreement where there is no formal tenancy agreement but the land is part of the Utilised Agricultural Area (i.e. not seasonally let).

Seasonal agreement

An agreement of less than 12 months.

Farm type

Where reference is made to the type of farm in this document, this refers to the ‘robust type’, which is a standardised farm classification system. For this publication, mixed, horticulture, poultry and pig farms have been merged into a single farm type category called ‘other’ farms.

Severely Disadvantaged Areas and Less Favoured Areas

The Severely Disadvantaged Areas (SDA) are more environmentally challenging areas. They are largely upland in character, and together with Disadvantaged Areas (DA) form the Less Favoured Areas (LFA) classification established in 1975 to provide support to mountainous and hill farming areas. LFA refers to areas where the natural characteristics (geology, altitude, climate, short growing season, low soil fertility, or remoteness) make it difficult for farmers to compete.

7.3 Accuracy and reliability of the results

As it is impractical to survey the entire population of farms, estimates derived from the Farm Business Survey data are inherently subject to sampling error. This is a core principle in statistical survey methodology, which aims to infer population parameters by obtaining a representative sample through carefully designed sampling techniques.

To quantify sampling error and provide a measure of uncertainty, this publication presents 95% confidence intervals for estimated means. These intervals, shown in the tables and as error bars in bar plots, indicate the range within which we expect the true population mean to lie for 95% of similarly constructed samples.

Narrower confidence intervals typically indicate larger sample sizes or less variability within the sample, thereby offering more precise estimates of the population mean. Conversely, wider confidence intervals often result from smaller sample sizes or greater sample standard deviations, signalling less precision. These wider intervals should be interpreted with greater caution.

Statistically, a confidence interval provides a plausible range for the true population mean based on the sample data. Specifically, a 95% confidence interval reflects a process that, under repeated sampling, would contain the true population mean in 95% of such intervals, rather than indicating a 95% probability for any single interval to include the population mean.

For example, the results in Table 1.2 show that the average annual rent for FBTs agreements was £229 per hectare for the 2023/24 survey year, with a 95% confidence interval of £202 to £256 per hectare, which is equivalent to £229 ± £27 per hectare. This suggests that the interval provides a plausible range for the true average rent for all land under FBTs, where if we were to repeat this survey many times, approximately 95% of the resulting confidence intervals would capture the true population average.

For the Farm Business Survey, the confidence intervals shown are suitable for comparing groups within the same year only. They do not account for comparisons across years, as many of the same farms may appear in multiple years of the survey. Confidence intervals reflect only the sampling error, providing a range within which we expect the true population parameter to fall due to random sampling. They do not account for other potential survey errors, such as non-response bias.

It should be noted that the confidence intervals are wider for the regional estimates compared to those for the published farm types. This is because the regional estimates include all farm types including mixed, horticulture, poultry and pig farms for which rents tend to be more variable. Totals and percentage changes may not necessarily agree with their components due to rounding.