National statistics

About these statistics (metadata)

Updated 10 May 2024

Applies to England

Survey methodology

The Farm Practices Survey (FPS) – Greenhouse Gas Mitigation edition is usually run annually and collects information on a diverse range of topics usually related to the impact of farming practices on the environment.

These results are from the FPS run in February 2023. The survey largely focused on practices relating to greenhouse gas mitigation, similar in content to FPS surveys run in February over recent years. Topics covered include nutrient and manure management, anaerobic digestion, emissions, fertiliser, manure and slurry spreaders and storage, farm health planning, grassland and grazing and livestock breeding and feeding practices. Where comparisons with earlier years are possible, the results are displayed alongside those from previous years.

Last year we made a change to survey design for some questions in section 8 of the survey. The questions did not change but we added a ‘not applicable response option to questions 50, “How often do you or your adviser use bulls with a high Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) when breeding dairy cows” and question 51, “How often do you or your adviser use bulls or rams with a high Estimated Breeding Value (EBV) when breeding beef cattle or lambs?”

This extra option was added to help respondents understand and navigate the survey form and improve data quality. When comparing these results with previous years, the ‘not applicable’ response may have been included in the ‘never’ response for earlier years.

The results provided here for 2023 are based on questions sent to approximately 7,000 holdings in England. These holdings were targeted by farm type and size to ensure a representative sample. The survey was voluntary and the response rate was approximately 25%.

Thresholds were applied to ensure that very small holdings with little agricultural activity were not included in the survey. To be included in the main sample, holdings had to have at least 50 cattle, 100 sheep, 100 pigs, 1,000 poultry or 20 hectares of arable crops or orchards. Therefore, all results given in this statistical release reflect almost 55 thousand holdings that exceed these thresholds out of the total English population of around 105 thousand commercial holdings.

A breakdown of the number of holdings within the population and the sample are shown in Table 1

Table 1 Sample design

Farm type	Number of eligible holdings in England	Number of holdings sampled	Response rate (%)
Cereals	14,032	1,436	26
Other crops	5,381	946	24
Pigs & poultry	3,401	782	20
Dairy	5,300	1,046	27
Grazing livestock (LFA)	7,590	779	28
Grazing livestock (lowland)	14,181	1,384	25
Mixed	4,886	608	25
All Farms	54,771	6,981	25

Data analysis

Results have been analysed using a standard methodology for stratified random surveys to produce national estimates. With this method, all the data are weighted according to the inverse sampling fraction.

Accuracy and reliability of the results

We show 95% confidence intervals against the results. These show the range of values that may apply to the figures. They mean that we are 95% confident that this range contains the true value. They are calculated as the standard errors (se) multiplied by 1.96 to give the 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The standard errors only give an indication of the sampling error. They do not reflect any other sources of survey errors, such as non-response bias.

Definitions

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. Farm sizes are based on the estimated labour requirements for the holding, rather than its land area. The farm size bands used within the detailed results tables which accompany this publication are shown in the table below. Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) is defined as the theoretical number of workers required each year to run a holding, based on its cropping and livestock activities.

Farm size	Definition
Small	Less than 2 SLR
Medium	2 to less than 3 SLR
Large	3 or more SLR

Availability of results

This release contains headline results for each topic. The full breakdown of results, by region, farm type and farm size can be found at the Farm Practices Survey.

Other Defra statistical notices can be viewed on the Defra website.

Data uses

The Farm Practices survey is used to investigate the impact of farming on the environment and to provide up to date agri-environment information on current issues to help inform policy decisions. The survey has a wide customer base both internal and external to Defra including Natural England, English Heritage, ADAS, the Environment Agency and the NFU.

Data from the Farm Practices Survey are used in Defra’s greenhouse gas (GHG) indicator framework. The framework, initially developed as part of the 2012 review of progress in reducing GHG emissions from English agriculture, consists of ten key indicators covering farmer attitudes and knowledge, the uptake of mitigation methods and the GHG emission intensity of production (GHG produced per tonne of crop or litre of milk or kilogramme of meat produced) in key agricultural sectors. Information from the survey also feeds into the Defra publication, Agricultural Statistics and Climate Change which provides background context to the current understanding of agriculture and GHG emissions.

In partnership with the Devolved Administrations, the Government invested over £12 million, over a four and a half year period, on the development of an improved GHG inventory to strengthen understanding of on farm emissions. Information from the Farm Practices Survey fed into this project which should enable greater precision in reporting GHG emissions from the sector, so that, going forward, changes made to farming practices to reduce GHG emissions will be properly recognised in the inventory.

Additional information

Finally, we are keen to hear your thoughts on this statistical release. If you found the data useful or if you have any other comments, please let us know. You can contact us via the phone number on the front page or alternatively email us at farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk.

What you need to know about this release

Contact details

Responsible statistician: Sarah Thompson

Team: Farming Statistics - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk.

Tel: 03000 600 170

National Statistics Status

National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.

The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in 2014 following a full assessment by the UK Statistics Authority against the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Since the last review of these statistics in 2014, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made improvements including:

• Improvements to the commentary to aid user interpretation
• Providing a helpful summary of the ways in which the results are used by government and other users

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