Official Statistics

Agricultural facts: East Midlands region

Updated 25 April 2024

Applies to England

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Section 1: Key statistics

Figure 1.1: A map of England with the East Midlands region highlighted

Source: Office for National Statistics, Open Geography Portal

The East Midlands region comprises Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Key statistics for the East Midlands region

  • Total Income from Farming[footnote 1] in 2022 was £939 million, an increase of 6.5% since 2021 (Source: Total Income from Farming for the regions of England).
  • In 2022, the largest contributors to the gross output[footnote 2] value (£4.0 billion) were wheat (£737 million), poultry meat (£535 million) and fresh vegetables (£424 million). These commodities accounted for 43% of the total output (Source: Total Income from Farming for the regions of England).
  • The average farm size in 2023 was 103 hectares (Table 1.1). This is the third largest average farm size of all the English regions and larger than the English average of 88 hectares.
  • The predominant farm types in 2023 were grazing livestock (34% of the region’s holdings) and cereal (27% of the region’s holdings) farms (Figure 1.4).
  • Across all farm types, average Farm Business Income[footnote 3] was £124,400 per farm in 2022/23, which was an increase of 25% from 2021/22 (Figure 1.6).

Figure 1.2: Distribution of farms by size in 2023 (percentage of farm holdings)

Region <5 ha 5<20 ha 20<50 ha 50<100 ha ≥100 ha Total
East Midlands 12% 25% 19% 16% 28% 100%
England 13% 26% 20% 17% 24% 100%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. “ha” means “hectares”

  2. Proportions may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Figure 1.3: Distribution of farms by size in 2023 (percentage of farmed area)

Region <5 ha 5<20 ha 20<50 ha 50<100 ha ≥100 ha Total
East Midlands 0.2% 2.7% 6.2% 11% 80% 100%
England 0.3% 3.3% 7.7% 14% 75% 100%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. “ha” means “hectares”

  2. Proportions may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Table 1.1: Land use in 2023

Measure East Midlands England
Total farmed area (thousand hectares) 1,172 8,999
Average farm size (hectares) 103 88
Rented (% of farmed area) 33% 32%
Arable (% of farmed area) 70% 53%
Permanent pasture (% of farmed area) 21% 34%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. Arable includes arable crops, uncropped arable land and temporary grass.

  2. Rented land must be rented for at least one year.

Table 1.2: Crop areas in 2023 (thousand hectares)

Crop East Midlands England East Midlands as % of England
Wheat 313 1,580 20%
Barley 130 799 16%
Oilseed rape 72 342 21%
Field veg 21 77 27%
Sugar beet 23 99 23%
Hardy nursery stock 3.5 8.8 40%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. Crops displayed are those more predominant in the area.

  2. Further data notes on crops can be found below the relevant tables in the statistical dataset for England’s regional breakdown of the structure of the agricultural industry at June.

Table 1.3: Livestock numbers in 2023 (thousand head)

Livestock East Midlands England East Midlands as % of England
Cattle 424 4,864 8.7%
Dairy herd 66 1,053 6.2%
Beef herd 65 602 11%
Pigs 328 3,633 9.0%
Sheep 1,186 14,451 8.2%
Poultry 21,981 130,549 17%
Table chickens 16,437 91,096 18%
Turkeys 721 2,417 30%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. Livestock displayed are those more predominant in the area.

  2. Cattle numbers relate to commercial holdings only.

  3. Sheep numbers include lambs.

Figure 1.4: Distribution of farms by type in 2023 (percentage of farm holdings)

Region Cereals General cropping Horticulture Dairy Grazing livestock Mixed Pigs, Poultry & Other Total
East Midlands 27% 20% 3.0% 3.3% 34% 7.1% 5.2% 100%
England 17% 21% 3.7% 5.0% 41% 7.0% 4.9% 100%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. Proportions may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

  2. “Other” refers to unclassified farm types.

Figure 1.5: Distribution of farms by type in 2023 (percentage of farmed area)

Region Cereals General cropping Horticulture Dairy Grazing livestock Mixed Pigs, Poultry & Other Total
East Midlands 50% 20% 1.8% 3.9% 14% 8.8% 1.6% 100%
England 34% 17% 1.9% 8.3% 28% 9.2% 1.9% 100%

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. Proportions may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

  2. “Other” refers to unclassified farm types.

Figure 1.6: Average Farm Business Income in 2021/22 and 2022/23 (£ per farm)

Farm type East Midlands England
All farm types
(2022/23)		 124,400
(±32,000)		 96,100
(±9,000)
Cereals
(2022/23)		 153,000
(±57,900)		 150,400
(±24,700)
General cropping
(2022/23)		 180,100
(±115,900)		 125,200
(±35,900)
Grazing livestock
(2022/23)		 20,300
(±9,000)		 22,900
(±4,100)
All farm types
(2021/22)		 99,800
(±18,700)		 86,100
(±6,600)
Cereals
(2021/22)		 132,200
(±37,000)		 120,100
(±16,600)
General cropping
(2021/22)		 154,900
(±72,200)		 145,400
(±31,500)
Grazing livestock
(2021/22)		 36,500
(±10,500)		 37,100
(±3,500)

Source: Defra, Farm Business Survey (regional breakdown not published elsewhere)

Notes:

  1. The Farm Business Survey year runs from March to February.

  2. Excludes farms with less than 25,000 euros of standard output.

  3. Farm types displayed are those more predominant in the area.

  4. Lines or values in parentheses indicate the 95% confidence intervals.

  5. Values are rounded to the nearest £100

Table 1.4: Labour force in 2023 (number of people)

Measure East Midlands England East Midlands as % of England
Total labour 32,071 292,401 11%
Total labour per farm 2.8 2.9 [z]
Regular workers 7,429 64,583 12%
Regular workers per farm 0.7 0.6 [z]
Casual workers 3,532 37,027 9.5%
Casual workers per farm 0.3 0.4 [z]
% full time 48% 46% [z]
% part time 36% 37% [z]
% casual 11% 13% [z]

Source: Defra, June Survey

Notes:

  1. “[z]” means “not applicable”

  2. Total labour includes farmers, partners, directors, spouses, salaried managers, regular and casual workers.

  3. Casual workers are those usually employed for less than 20 weeks of the year.

  4. Number of workers per farm calculations are averages based on the total number of farm holdings in the region.

  5. Part time workers are those employed for less than 39 hours a week.

  6. Percentage calculations for full and part time workers do not include salaried managers.

Section 2: Other geographical breakdowns

Further information and other geographical classifications related to the Defra June Survey can be found on our GOV.UK web page: Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June.

England regional data for aggregate agricultural accounts can be found in the Total Income from Farming for the regions of England publication on GOV.UK.

English county data for farm accounts from the Farm Business Survey can be found on the Farm Business Survey web page.

Section 3: Data notes

Figures are for commercial holdings as at June 2023 (unless stated otherwise). Years may differ between measures since this publication uses data from a range of sources and is updated twice yearly to use the latest data available.

Commercial holdings are those with levels of farming activity above a specified threshold as detailed in this publication’s guidance note.

For further information about the June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture please visit our survey notes and guidance page on GOV.UK.

Section 4: Contact details

Responsible statistician: Thomas Pearson

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

Email: AUK_stats_team@defra.gov.uk

For media queries between 9am and 5pm on weekdays:

Telephone: 0330 041 6560

Email: newsdesk@defra.gov.uk

  1. Total Income from Farming (TIFF) is the net income to farms once costs have been accounted for, so is calculated as “outputs & subsidies” minus “inputs & costs”. More information on aggregate agricultural accounts can be found on GOV.UK. ↩

  2. Total output is the gross value of commodities produced without considering production costs or any additional income received through subsidies. More information on aggregate agricultural accounts can be found on GOV.UK. ↩

  3. In simple terms, Farm Business Income (FBI) is the output generated by the farm business minus total farm costs. More information on Farm Business Income can be found on GOV.UK. ↩

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