National statistics

Chapter 1: Key Events

Updated 21 October 2022

Government and policy

Countryside Stewardship application round for 2022 agreements opened on 9 February 2021.

Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) was launched on 25 March 2021 to support farmers and land managers through the transition.

The consultation on changes to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) to support farmers through the agricultural transition period was launched on 19 May 2021.

Census of Agriculture for England was opened on 2 June 2021.

A new Farming in Protected Landscapes programme was launched in June, which will provide funding to help farmers and other land managers in England based in National Parks or AONBs to make improvements to the natural environment and improve public access on their land – the next step in the Government’s landmark plans for a renewed agriculture sector outside of the Common Agricultural Policy.

On 30 June 2021 we published an update to the Agricultural Transition Plan.

In October 2021 we launched the pilot for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

More information was released concerning the first part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway - the Annual Health and Welfare Review on 5 October 2021.

The Farming Investment Fund was launched on 16 November 2021 and the Farming Innovation Programme was on 20 October 2021.

The Farming Transformation Fund was opened which provides grants which range from £35,000 - £500,000 to support higher-value, more complex investments which bring about transformative improvements to farmers and growers businesses.

In England and Scotland, the two meat levy bodies, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and Quality Meat Scotland, suspended the statutory levy for pig farmers and producers during November 2021 – suspending payments of the levy pig farmers and producers are required to pay.

The Government provided a package of measures to help support the pig sector, including temporary work visas for pork butchers, and Private Storage Aid (PSA) and Slaughter Incentive Payment (SIP) schemes to facilitate an increase in the throughput of pigs through abattoirs. We are also working with industry to support their efforts on the longer term recruitment and retention of domestic workers.

On 24 December 2021, the government announced that the seasonal worker visa route would be extended through to 2024. The route allows overseas workers to come to the UK to harvest both edible and ornamental crops or to work in the poultry sector.

Key contextual factors

Global events

The year 2020 saw two events of global significance for agriculture and the food chain: the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the UK leaving the EU.

Exchange rates

The relationship between the Pound and Euro has a key bearing on the fortunes of UK farming as the majority of UK exports of agricultural commodities are made to the Eurozone. A weaker pound increases the competitiveness of UK exports but increases the price of imports, including inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. The pound weakened against the Euro in 2016 and has remained relatively stable since. In 2020, the pound weakened further against the Euro before steadily increasing in strength throughout 2021.

Weather (source: Met Office)

The UK experienced slightly warmer weather on average in 2021, particularly in Northern Ireland. Northern and western areas of the UK were sunnier than usual, but the Midlands and the South East were duller than average. Rainfall returned to average levels after a particularly wet 2020. However, Scotland had a notably dry year.

Winter

January 2021 was the coldest January since 2010 with monthly mean temperatures 1.5 °C below average. The cold weather continued into the first half of February, carrying with it some severe frosts. However, the latter half of February was milder with the monthly mean 0.4 °C warmer than average. Rainfall in both January and February was above average for most of the UK (double the average in some areas), except northern Scotland. As a result, Scotland was also sunnier than average in both January (the fourth sunniest January on record) and February, but southern England and Wales were duller than usual.

Spring

Spring 2021 was colder than average with regular frosts experienced in many areas, despite brief warm spells at the end of March and May. In particular, 2021 saw the coldest April since 1989 and the coldest May since 1996 with monthly mean temperatures of 1.7 °C and 1.3 °C below average, respectively. Both March and April were drier than usual, but April the driest since 1980 (28% of average rainfall). However, May was much wetter than usual with heavy showers particularly in Wales and the South West. April 2021 was much sunnier than usual for the second time in a row, but May slightly duller than usual.

Summer

In contrast to spring, summer 2021 was warmer than average, due to monthly mean temperatures of 1.5 °C above average in western Scotland as well some particularly warm spells across the UK in the first half of June and the second half of July. However, temperatures in August were close to average. Rainfall was overall lower than average in summer. Nevertheless, during June and July some regions received around twice the average rainfall with localised heavy thunderstorms frequent in July; only western and northern-most regions were drier than usual. The latter half of August was much drier. Sunshine was above average in northern areas for June as well as areas away from the east in July. In contrast, August was one of the top ten dullest Augusts in history for England and Wales.

Autumn

September 2021 was the second warmest September since 1884 with monthly mean temperatures 2.1 °C above average. Rainfall in September was below average in many places but sunshine levels were contrasting between eastern and western areas with above and below average totals for September, respectively. October was also warmer than average (by 1.4 °C), but was wetter than usual across the UK and duller than average in most areas. November was only slightly warmer than usual (by 0.4 °C) and unremarkable in terms of sunshine levels, but was much drier than usual with 63% of average rainfall. December 2021 began unsettled and chilly, but also ended up warmer than usual overall with fewer frosts than normal. Rainfall in December was near average, but it was the UK’s dullest December since 1956.

Animal Health

Avian influenza

In the UK there were 326 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), the majority in wild birds (253), with 52 outbreaks in farmed birds and 21 outbreaks in backyard flocks. In England there were 164 outbreaks of HPAI H5NI in wild birds and 10 of the H5N8 strain; 41 farm outbreaks of H5NI and 1 farm outbreak of H5N8, together with 16 outbreaks of H5NI in backyard flocks. In Northern Ireland there were 5 outbreaks of H5NI in farmed birds and a further 5 H5NI outbreaks in wild birds. Scotland reported 67 outbreaks of H5NI in wild birds, 3 in farmed birds and 3 in backyard flocks. In Wales there were 7 outbreaks of H5NI in wild birds, 1 in farmed birds and 2 in backyard birds, as well as 2 outbreaks of H5N8 in farmed birds.

Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB)

Note: More information on Bovine Tuberculosis can be found at the TB hub.

Relative to 2020, England experienced in 2021 reductions in all the key headline epidemiological indicators of bTB, such as the number of new TB-positive herds (incidents), the herd incidence rate and the number (and prevalence) of TB-restricted herds. The annual reduction in the number of animals slaughtered for bTB control reasons was more marginal. Overall, the herd prevalence of the disease in England in 2021 reached its lowest level since 2010. For the full set of the 2021 official statistics for TB in cattle in GB see: TB in cattle in Great Britain.

The Bovine TB Partnership was launched in 2021. A key recommendation of the Godfray Review, the Partnership was created in conjunction with industry and stakeholders to encourage shared ownership, co-ordination and decision-making surrounding England’s 25 year bTB eradication strategy. The group met eight times in 2021. In January 2021 the frequency of routine TB testing for most cattle herds in the High Risk Area of England was increased from an annual to a six-monthly interval. Field trials began in England in June 2021 of a TB vaccine for cattle and an allied skin test that can detect infected cattle among vaccinates. If the trials prove successful, we anticipate that deployment of this TB vaccine could start in some cattle herds in 2025. A new, nationwide TB Advisory Service for cattle and other livestock farmers was launched in 2021. The aim is to continue to help herd owners to improve biosecurity measures on farms and manage the risk of bringing the disease into their herds. We also upgraded the iBTB online mapping tool to better support responsible cattle movements. New Badger Disease Control (intensive cull) licences issued in 2021 could, after a minimum of two years of culling, be revoked after a progress evaluation by the UK Chief Veterinary Officer. In addition, all new supplementary badger control licences were limited to two years, as opposed to four years previously, and the issuing of new licences for previously licenced areas was prohibited. Natural England (NE) licensed seven new badger TB control areas in 2021. This brought the total number of intensive culling areas in England to forty including two in the Low Risk Area. NE also licenced 11 new supplementary badger culling areas bringing the total number of supplementary badger culling areas to 21. We continued to support privately led, licensed badger vaccination in the Edge Area. A total of 1,575 badgers were vaccinated against TB in 2021, an increase from the 1,094 badgers vaccinated in 2020.

In Wales in 2021, the number of total slaughtered cattle increased by 1.5%, from 10,488 to 10,641. In 2020, compared to 2019, there was a noticeable decrease in animals slaughtered partly due to a revised inconclusive reactor policy implemented in early 2020. In Wales, following discussions with industry, cattle continue to be removed from persistent breakdown herds if the results of their skin test are inconclusive at the standard interpretation. However, cattle testing inconclusive at severe interpretation will be subject to both a gamma interferon test and an antibody test (IDEXX). No single test, or combination of tests for bovine TB provides 100% test specificity or sensitivity. The skin test is the only official test recognised for demonstrating Officially TB-Free status. The Welsh Government is using alongside the skin test a number of ancillary tests such as the gamma test, the flexible extended gamma test and the IDEXX Antibody Test. The IDEXX Antibody test is a blood test which detects a different immune response to bovine TB from the skin TB test and the Interferon-gamma test (both of which detect the same immune response), to improve the detection of bovine TB infected animals.

On 1 November 2021, a temporary reclassification of the three Denbighshire/Conwy Valley spatial units from the Low TB area to the Intermediate TB Area North. This change has now been reflected in Defra National Statistics, and our Bovine TB Epidemiological Dashboard. The historical data have been revised to reflect the new TB area boundaries. Following this temporary reclassification there has been an increase in some measures in the Intermediate TB Area North, and a decrease in some metrics in the Low TB Area.  The remaining TB Areas remain unaffected.

In Scotland during 2021, there were 7 new confirmed TB breakdowns, which is consistent with another year of officially TB-free (OTF) status. Following EU Exit, Scotland’s OTF status will now be recognised under EU 2021/404 within Annex II, Part 1. In 2021 a review of the Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 2007 (as amended) took place, with a view to holding a public consultation and making legislative changes in late 2022. Some of these proposed changes would align with the new Animal Health Law requirements, to allow for continued trade with EU states and to meet OIE standards for global trade. In March 2022, the implementation of TB PCR testing for slaughterhouse and non-bovine samples was launched.

In Northern Ireland, herd incidence for 2021 was 8.85% with animal incidence standing at 0.786%. Herd and animal incidence both rose over the past year (from 8.44% in 2020 for herd incidence and from 0.747% for animal incidence). This rise followed a period of decline from late 2017 to early 2020. Herd and animal incidence rates may have been affected by the challenge of delivering the NI bTB programme during the coronavirus pandemic (especially given disruption to herd testing in March and April 2020).

Since the restoration of the devolved institutions in January 2020 and the appointment of Edwin Poots MLA as Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, significant progress has taken place on the development of a new bTB Eradication Strategy for Northern Ireland. The Strategy has been the product of several years’ work and builds on the 2016 recommendations of the TB Strategic Partnership Group and subsequent public consultation on the Department’s response. Parts of the proposed Strategy were subject to a further public consultation in summer 2021, with over 3,300 responses received. The Strategy was subsequently launched by Minister Poots in a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 24 March 2022.