Agricultural workforce in England at 1 June 2025

Question 1

Key points

Accepted Answer

Agricultural workforce

The total number of people working on agricultural holdings in England was 279 thousand on 1 June 2025. This is a decrease of 1.9% since 2024 and continues the general downward trend seen in the last three years.
Farmers, business partners, directors and spouses continue to account for over half (60%) of the total workforce and decreased by 3.1% to 168 thousand people in 2025, mostly due to a reduction in part time farmers.
Salaried managers have consistently remained between 11 and 12 thousand people over the past decade. This trend continued, with an increase in part time managers offsetting a decrease in full time managers between 2024 and 2025, resulting in a 1.1% increase to 12 thousand people.
Total regular and casual workers remained unchanged between 2024 and 2025. Within this total, regular workers decreased by 1.1% to 65 thousand people and casual workers saw a rise of 1.9% to 35 thousand people.

Sex and age group

16% of principal farmers and holders were female, a figure largely unchanged over the last five years. This proportion varies little over all age groups, except in the youngest age group (under 35 years), where female representation is slightly higher (19%).
40% of principal farmers and holders were aged 65 years or older. In contrast, only 15% were under 45 years old.

National Identity and Ethnicity

We asked principal farmers and holders to share their national identity and ethnic group to help us build an overview of diversity within the farming population of England.
Of those that answered these questions, 68% of farmers identified as British and a further 31% identified as English.
Almost all farmers (99.7%) selected White as their ethnic group.
The results for 2025 showed very little change from 2022 when the questions were last asked.

Question 2

Section 1 – Detailed results

Accepted Answer

1.1 Agricultural workforce

The total number of people working in agriculture in England was 279 thousand on 1 June 2025, showing a decrease of 1.9% since 1 June 2024. Prior to 2023 workforce numbers were relatively stable, however there has been a slight downward trend over the past three years.

In 2025 farmers, business partners, directors and spouses continue to account for over half (60%) of the total workforce and at 168 thousand people saw a decline of 3.1%. Salaried managers make up a much smaller proportion of the total (4%) and increased by 1.1% to 12 thousand people in 2025. Regular employees and casual workers make up the remainder of the total workforce, accounting for 23% and 13% respectively (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Total agricultural workforce in England at 1 June

Year	Farmers, partners, directors and spouses	Salaried managers	Regular workers	Casual workers	Total
2021	179,029	11,812	67,677	38,900	297,418
2022	179,769	12,210	67,427	41,740	301,146
2023	178,696	12,095	64,583	37,027	292,401
2024	173,120	11,812	65,556	34,309	284,797
2025	167,756	11,944	64,840	34,953	279,493

The total number of regular workers decreased by 1.1% to 65 thousand. There were 41 thousand full time regular workers, an increase of 1.8% between 2024 and 2025. Part time regular workers saw a larger proportional change, decreasing by 5.8% from 25 thousand to 24 thousand people. Out of the regular workers, approximately 64% worked full time and 36% worked part time, this proportional split is little changed year on year (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Proportions of full time and part time regular workers in England at 1 June

Year	Full time	Part time	Total regular workers
2021	62%	38%	100%
2022	64%	36%	100%
2023	64%	36%	100%
2024	62%	38%	100%
2025	64%	36%	100%

As these results are a snapshot of the workforce on the farm at 1 June and given the nature of agricultural work, it is therefore not unusual for the number of casual workers to vary from year to year. Between 1 June 2024 and 1 June 2025, the number of casual workers rose by 1.9%, increasing from 34 thousand to 35 thousand.

An increase was seen in the number of male casual workers, which rose by 2.4%, whilst the number of female casual workers remained little changed. The proportional split between males and females has remained stable in in recent years with males consistently accounting for almost two thirds (66%) of casual workers (Figure 3).

Figure 3 - Male and female casual workers in England at 1 June

Year	Male	Female	Casual workers
2021	24,751	14,149	38,900
2022	26,780	14,960	41,740
2023	23,994	13,033	37,027
2024	22,404	11,905	34,309
2025	22,935	12,018	34,953

1.2 Sex and age group

To help us gain an overview of diversity within the farming population of England we asked principal farmers and holders about their sex and age group. The questions were optional and while the majority of farmers answered them, some left the questions blank. The figures presented here relate only to those who provided an answer.

The categories are based on the Office for National Statistics guidance for the collection and classification of sex and age group data in the UK. These harmonised standards allow consistency and comparability of statistical outputs across the country.

Sex

In 2025, 84% of principal farmers and holders were male, while only 16% were female. This proportion was similar across all age groups, except for the youngest age group (under 35 years), where a slightly higher proportion of farmers were female (19%) (Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Proportion of farmers in each age group, by sex in England at 1 June

Age band	Male	Female	Total
Under 35	81%	19%	100%
35 to 44 years	85%	15%	100%
45 to 54 years	84%	16%	100%
55 to 64 years	85%	15%	100%
65 and over	84%	16%	100%

Age Group

In 2025, the highest proportion of farmers (40%) were aged 65 years and over, 30% were aged 55 to 64 years and 16% were aged 45 to 54 years. In contrast 15% of farmers were aged under 45 years and of those, 5% were aged under 35 years (Figure 5). The age distribution for male and female farmers shows a similar pattern.

Figure 5 - Age distribution of farmers in England at 1 June

Age band	Proportion
Under 35	5%
35 to 44 years	10%
45 to 54 years	16%
55 to 64 years	30%
65 and over	40%

1.3 National Identity and Ethnicity

We asked principal farmers and holders to share their national identity and ethnic group to help us build an overview of diversity within the farming population of England. The questions were optional and while the majority of farmers answered them, some either left the questions blank or selected that they preferred not to say. The figures presented here relate only to those who provided an answer.

The categories are based on the Office for National Statistics guidance for the collection and classification of ethnic group and national identity data in the UK, Ethnic group, national identity and religion . These harmonised standards allow consistency and comparability of statistical outputs across the country.

National Identity

68% of farmers identified as British and a further 31% identified as English. This is little changed from 71% and 28% respectively when the questions were last asked in 2022. Of the remaining farmers, 0.6% identified as Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish and the final 0.7% identified as “Other”. There were too few responses to some categories, so it is not possible to show every option separately.

Ethnic Group

Almost all farmers (99.7%) selected White as their ethnic group, the same proportion as 2022 when we last collected this data. This includes British, Northern Irish, Gypsy, Irish Traveller, Roma or any other White background.

Other ethnic groups, including Asian or Asian British, Black, Black British, Caribbean or African and Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups received too few responses to be shown separately.

Question 3

Section 2 – About these statistics

Accepted Answer

2.1 Survey methodology

Full details of the survey methodology are available on the Structure of the agricultural industry guidance web page.

The June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture has been run predominantly online since 2011, with an option for farmers to complete a paper form if they prefer. The survey is annual and samples around 30,000 holdings most years, with a full census run once a decade. The last census was run in 2021.

The June 2025 survey was sent to a sample of 55,000 commercial holdings and responses were received from 27,000 holdings, representing a response rate of 51%. This is a larger sample than usual which will enable us to provide detailed geographical breakdowns later in the year and help to understand changes currently happening within the farming sector, e.g. changes in land use following the introduction of ELM schemes. Commercial holdings are defined as those with more than five hectares of agricultural land, one hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.

Table 1 provides details of the sample survey population broken down by farm size. The size of a farm is determined by its Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) which is the typical number of full-time workers required on the holding based on its activity.

Table 1: June 2025 population size and sampling rate

Stratum	Description	Sampling rate (%)	Population size
1	SLR < 0.5	35%	56,109
2	SLR >= 0.5 and < 1	55%	13,020
3	SLR >= 1 and < 2	78%	12,020
4	SLR >= 2 and < 3	78%	5,652
5	SLR >= 3 and < 5	78%	5,411
6	SLR >= 5	78%	5,710
10	SLR unknown	97%	3,968
	All	52%	101,890

For pig and poultry sectors, an additional data collection exercise was run to collect data from a central point for some of the largest companies. Cattle results are sourced from the Cattle Tracing System (CTS). The data include returns from all holdings with cattle so are not subject to survey error.

2.2 Data analysis

The data are subject to rigorous validation checks which identify inconsistencies within the data or large year-on-year changes. Any records that have not been cleaned by the results production stage are excluded from the analysis.

Population totals are estimated for each question on the survey to account for the non-sampled and non-responding holdings. This survey uses the technique known as ratio raising, in which the trend between the sample data and base data (previous year’s data) is calculated for each stratum. The calculated ratio is then applied to the previous year’s population data to give England level estimates. For holdings where we do not have base data (new holdings or long-term non-responders) the sample estimates are raised according to the inverse sampling fraction.

2.3 Confidence indicators

Confidence intervals and tick based indicators are shown alongside all of our estimated figures and can be found in the data tables within the dataset. These both help to show where there is more variability around results and highlight whether year-on-year changes are statistically significant or not. Whilst these are a useful indicator, they do not take into account any other sources of survey errors, such as non-response bias or administrative data errors.

2.4 Data notes

All figures relate to commercial holdings.
All percentage changes are based on unrounded figures.
Totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components due to rounding.

2.5 Data uses and users

Results from the June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture have a wide range of uses and users with requests for data being made on a frequent basis. A document providing information of specific uses and users can be found on our guidance and notes.

2.6 Other survey results and publications

The next releases from the June Survey will be UK results and are expected to be in December. The definitive publication date will be announced on the research and statistics webpage on gov.uk.

More detailed results from the June Survey can be found on our Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June web page. This includes various time series of crop areas and livestock numbers dating back as early as 1866 and detailed geographical breakdowns of the results.

2.7 Feedback

We welcome feedback and any thoughts to improve the publication further. Please send any feedback to: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk.

Question 4

Section 3 - What you need to know about this release

Accepted Answer

3.1 Contact details

Responsible statistician: Sarah Thompson

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

Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Tel: 0300 060 0170

3.2 Accredited official statistics

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 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). 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 amended the validation checks carried out on response data including validation against new administrative data sources to better assure ourselves of the quality of the statistics.
Enhanced trustworthiness by removing pre-release access.

Agricultural workforce in England at 1 June 2025

Applies to England

Key points