Accredited official statistics

Chapter 2: Structure of industry

Published 10 July 2025

Summary

Key results for 2024 compared to 2023:

• The utilised agricultural area (UAA) decreased by 1.5% and was 17 million hectares, covering 69% of land in the UK.

• The total croppable area increased by 1.3% in 2024 and was 6.2 million hectares.

• The cereal crops area decreased by 3.9% and was 3.0 million hectares.

• The area of oilseed crops planted decreased by 24% and was 317 thousand hectares.

• The total number of cattle and calves decreased by 1.5% and was 9.4 million animals. The beef herd decreased by 4.5% and was 1.3 million animals. The dairy herd did not change substantially and was 1.8 million animals.

• The total number of pigs increased by 0.7% and was 4.7 million animals. The total number of female pigs in the breeding herd decreased by 3.1% and was 327 thousand animals.

• The total number of sheep and lambs decreased by 2.5% and was 31 million animals.

• The total number of poultry decreased by 1.2% and was 176 million birds.

• The total agricultural workforce on commercial holdings decreased by 2.0% and was 453 thousand people.

Introduction

The tables and charts in this chapter show the size and structure of the agricultural industry in the United Kingdom at 1 June each year. They provide information on land use and livestock numbers, on the distribution of these between holdings and on the agricultural workforce.

Data in this chapter are sourced primarily from the June Surveys of Agriculture carried out in the four UK countries each year. There are some exceptions. In Scotland, most of the land use data are sourced from Single Application Form (SAF) subsidy data. In Northern Ireland, data for pig and poultry are extracted from the NI Annual Inventory of Pigs and Update of NI Bird Register respectively. Also, cattle data are sourced from the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) in England, Wales and Scotland and from the equivalent Northern Ireland Food Animal Information System (NIFAIS) in Northern Ireland.

England data relate to commercial holdings only. Commercial holdings are defined as those with significant levels of farming activity, i.e. holdings 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.

For more information on the June Survey and for more detailed results, please see the pages for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Land use and crop areas

At June 2024 the utilised agricultural area (UAA) was 17 million hectares, covering 69% of the total UK land area. UAA is made up of arable and horticultural crops, uncropped arable land, common rough grazing, temporary and permanent grassland and land used for outdoor pigs. It does not include woodland and other non-agricultural land.

The total croppable area increased by 1.3% in 2024 and was 6.2 million hectares. However some categories within this total had greater changes than others (see Table 2.1).

In 2024, cereals and oilseed crops saw decreases in area as a result of bad weather causing difficult planting conditions. Consequently, the area of uncropped arable land increased by 98% to 616 thousand hectares, with increases seen across all the UK nations.

Cereal crops accounted for the majority (69%) of the cropped area. Wheat and barley are the predominant cereal crops. In 2024, the area of wheat decreased by 11% and was 1.5 million hectares. This is the lowest wheat area since 2020 when crop plantings were last affected by very wet weather in the autumn. The area of barley increased by 5.1% and was 1.2 million hectares.

The area of oilseed rape decreased by 25% in 2024 and was 293 thousand hectares.

Potatoes increased by 3.1% to 118 thousand hectares in 2024.

The remaining arable crops decreased by 2.4% to 732 thousand hectares. Peas for harvesting dry, field beans and maize together account for 67% of this area. The area of peas and field beans decreased by 18% whilst the area of maize increased by 11%.

Table 2.1 shows agricultural land use areas and figures 2.1a to 2.1c provide further detailed breakdowns of the crop areas.

The majority (85%) of the utilised agricultural area is used to feed livestock rather than for direct human consumption or other uses such as for bioenergy. In this estimate all grassland has been assumed to be for animal feed. When looking solely at the croppable area, the proportion used for animal feed is lower at around 58%.

These proportions have remained broadly stable over the past decade. More detailed breakdowns and a timeseries are available in the Agricultural land used to feed livestock dataset.

Table 2.1 Agricultural land use at June of each year, 2022 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Enquiries: Will Drabble on +44 (0) 3000 600 170
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Category	2022	2023	2024
UAA (utilised agricultural area)	17,426	17,022	16,760
UAA as a proportion of total UK area	71%	70%	69%
Total agricultural land	18,757	18,334	18,046
Common rough grazing	1,194	1,194	1,197
Total area on agricultural holdings	17,562	17,140	16,848
Total croppable area	6,084	6,086	6,167
Total crops	4,571	4,515	4,276
Arable crops	4,418	4,370	4,134
Cereals	3,173	3,088	2,966
Oilseeds	399	418	317
Potatoes	127	115	118
Other arable crops	718	750	732
Horticultural crops	153	145	142
Uncropped arable land	274	311	616
Temporary grass under 5 years old	1,240	1,260	1,275
Total permanent grassland	10,136	9,730	9,380
Grass over 5 years old	6,158	6,074	5,865
Sole right rough grazing	3,978	3,655	3,511
Land for solar panels also used for grazing or agricultural production	[x]	[x]	4
Other land on agricultural holdings	1,342	1,324	1,301
Woodland	996	948	939
Land used for outdoor pigs	12	12	12
Land for solar panels not used for agricultural production	[x]	[x]	4
All other non-agricultural land	334	364	347

Notes for table 2.1:

1. UAA includes all arable and horticultural crops, uncropped arable land, common rough grazing, temporary and permanent grassland and land used for outdoor pigs (it excludes woodland and other non-agricultural land).

2. Uncropped arable land includes all arable land not in production, including bare fallow and arable land used for environmental benefit but not in production (e.g. pollen and nectar flower mixes).

3. Sole right rough grazing includes mountains, hills, heathland or moorland.

4. Land for solar panels data collected by England only.

Source: UK Agriculture departments June Survey/Census of Agriculture/SAF land data Scotland.

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Figures 2.1a to 2.1c - Crop areas at June of each year

Enquiries: Will Drabble on +44 (0) 3000 600 170
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Figure 2.1a Cereal crop areas, 2022 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Year	Wheat	Barley	Oats	Minor cereals	Total
2022	1,813	1,116	176	69	3,173
2023	1,720	1,137	167	65	3,088
2024	1,531	1,194	182	59	2,966

Figure 2.1b Other arable crop areas, 2022 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Year	Oilseeds	Potatoes	Sugar beet (not for stockfeeding)	Maize	Peas for harvesting dry and field beans	Remaining arable crops	Total
2022	399	127	91	222	269	136	1,245
2023	418	115	99	240	275	135	1,282
2024	317	118	103	266	224	139	1,168

Figure 2.1c Horticultural crop areas, 2022 to 2024 (thousand hectares)

Year	Vegetables grown outdoors	Orchard fruit	Small fruit	Hardy nursery stock, bulbs and flowers	Glasshouse crops	Total
2022	107	22	10	11	3	153
2023	100	21	11	10	3	145
2024	97	20	11	12	3	142

Notes for figures 2.1a to 2.1c:

1. Vegetables grown outdoors excludes potatoes, peas for harvesting dry and mushrooms.

2. Orchard fruit includes non-commercial orchards.

3. Small fruit is strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, wine grapes and all other soft fruit.

Source: June Surveys/Census of Agriculture/SAF land data Scotland.

Download the full Structure of industry dataset.

Livestock numbers

In 2024, the total number of cattle and calves decreased by 1.5% from 2023 to 9.4 million. The dairy herd remained stable at 1.8 million animals. The beef herd decreased by 4.5% to 1.3 million animals, continuing to drive the gradual downward trend seen in the breeding herd in recent years.

The number of lambs under one year old was 15 million in 2024, which decreased by 1.5% from 2023. The female breeding flock decreased by 3.6% to just under 15 million animals. As a result, the total UK sheep and lamb population was 31 million which decreased by 2.5% compared to 2023.

The total number of pigs remained relatively stable at 4.7 million, helped by a 0.9% rise in the number of fattening pigs. The number of pigs in the female breeding herd decreased by 3.1% and was 327 thousand in 2024.

The total number of poultry in the UK decreased by 1.2% and was 176 million birds in 2024. The overall reduction in numbers was largely due to to a 3.5% fall to 112 million in the number of table chickens (broilers), which account for 64% of all poultry. The number of breeding and laying fowl increased by 1.5% to 55 million.

Figures 2.2a to 2.2d provide breakdowns of livestock populations.

Figures 2.2a to 2.2d - Livestock numbers at June of each year

Enquiries: Will Drabble on +44 (0) 3000 600 170
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Figure 2.2a Female cattle breeding herd, 2022 to 2024 (thousand head)

Year	Cows in the beef herd	Cows in the dairy herd	Total breeding herd
2022	1,463	1,842	3,305
2023	1,407	1,836	3,243
2024	1,344	1,836	3,181

Figure 2.2b Sheep numbers, 2022 to 2024 (thousand head)

Year	Female breeding flock	Other sheep and lambs	Total
2022	15,826	17,348	33,174
2023	15,438	16,365	31,803
2024	14,882	16,135	31,017

Figure 2.2c Female pig breeding herd, 2022 to 2024 (thousand head)

Year	Sows in pig	Gilts in pig	Other sows for breeding	Total breeding herd
2022	247	42	54	343
2023	238	48	52	338
2024	236	43	49	327

Figure 2.2d Poultry numbers, 2022 to 2024 (thousand birds)

Year	Laying flock (including pullets)	Breeding flock	Table fowl	Turkeys, ducks, geese, all other poultry	Total
2022	40,442	12,021	121,730	9,295	183,488
2023	41,073	12,720	116,440	7,909	178,142
2024	41,863	12,749	112,374	9,099	176,085

Notes for figures 2.2a to 2.2d:

1. Dairy cows are defined as female dairy cows over 2 years old with offspring.

2. Beef cows are defined as female beef cows over 2 years old with offspring.

Source: June Surveys/Census of Agriculture; Cattle Tracing System/NIFAIS.

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Numbers and sizes of holdings and enterprises

Tables 2.2a through to 2.2d compare the number of holdings and area by farm size in 2019 and 2024. In 2024, the total number of holdings was 209 thousand which decreased by 4.2% compared to 2019. Within the five-year period the total area on holdings has decreased by 4.6%.

Between 2019 and 2024 the average area of all holdings decreased by 0.3% and the average croppable area of holdings increased by 3.0%.

Figure 2.3a shows the proportion of holdings and total area by size bands. This shows that around a fifth of holdings have 100 hectares or more, but these holdings account for three quarters of the total area. Most holdings in both 2019 and 2024 were under 20 hectares, accounting for approximately 4.0% of the total area. A similar picture can be drawn for the croppable area which is shown in figure 2.3c.

Tables 2.2a to 2.2d and 2.3a to 2.3b show number of holdings and total areas for the UK and by country, respectively.

Tables 2.2a to 2.2d, and figures 2.3b and 2.3c: Numbers and sizes of holdings and enterprises at June of each year

Enquiries: Will Drabble on +44 (0) 3000 600 170
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Table 2.2a Numbers of holdings by total area size group, 2019 and 2024 (thousand)

Year	Under 20 hectares	20 to under 50 hectares	50 to under 100 hectares	100 hectares and over	Total
2019	103	42	32	41	219
2024	101	40	29	39	209

Table 2.2b Total area on holdings by size group, 2019 and 2024 (thousand hectares)

Year	Under 20 hectares	20 to under 50 hectares	50 to under 100 hectares	100 hectares and over	Total area
2019	705	1,390	2,280	13,277	17,652
2024	710	1,318	2,092	12,728	16,848

Figure 2.3a Proportion of holdings and total area by size group, 2019 and 2024

Category	under 20 hectares	20 to under 50 hectares	50 to under 100 hectares	100 hectares and over	Total
2019 - Proportion of holdings	47%	19%	15%	19%	100%
2024 - Proportion of holdings	48%	19%	14%	19%	100%
2019 - Proportion of total area	4%	8%	13%	75%	100%
2024 - Proportion of total area	4%	8%	12%	76%	100%

Figure 2.3b Average total and croppable areas on holdings, 2019 and 2024 (hectares)

Year	Average total area	Average total area on holdings with >=20 hectares	Average croppable area
2019	81	147	64
2024	80	148	66

Table 2.2c Numbers of holdings with croppable areas by size group, 2019 and 2024 (thousand)

Year	Croppable area 0.1 to under 20 hectares	Croppable area 20 to under 50 hectares	Croppable area 50 to under 100 hectares	Croppable area 100 hectares and over	Total
2019	46	18	14	17	95
2024	46	17	13	17	93

Table 2.2d Croppable area on holdings by size group, 2019 and 2024 (thousand hectares)

Year	Croppable area 0.1 to under 20 hectares	Croppable area 20 to under 50 hectares	Croppable area 50 to under 100 hectares	Croppable area 100 hectares and over	Total croppable area
2019	294	590	981	4,267	6,132
2024	273	567	896	4,431	6,167

Figure 2.3c Proportion of holdings and croppable area by size group, 2019 and 2024

Category	0.1 to under 20 hectares	20 to under 50 hectares	50 to under 100 hectares	100 hectares and over	Total
2019 - Proportion of holdings with croppable area	48%	19%	15%	18%	100%
2024 - Proportion of holdings with croppable area	49%	19%	14%	18%	100%
2019 - Proportion of croppable area	5%	10%	16%	69%	100%
2024 - Proportion of croppable area	4%	9%	15%	72%	100%

Notes for tables 2.2a to 2.2d, and figures 2.3b and 2.3c:

1. Croppable area is defined as land under crops, temporary grass under five years old and uncropped arable land.

Source: June Surveys/Census of Agriculture/SAF land data Scotland.

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Tables 2.3a to 2.3b - Numbers of holdings and areas by size group and country at June of each year

Enquiries: Will Drabble on +44 (0) 3000 600 170
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Table 2.3a Numbers of holdings by total area size group and country, 2024 (thousand)

Country	Under 20 hectares	20 to under 50 hectares	50 to under 100 hectares	100 hectares and over	Total
England	42	21	16	24	102
Wales	21	6	5	5	37
Scotland	27	5	4	8	44
Northern Ireland	11	8	4	2	26

Table 2.3b Total area on holdings by size group and country, 2024 (thousand hectares)

Country	Under 20 hectares	20 to under 50 hectares	50 to under 100 hectares	100 hectares and over	Total area
England	329	678	1,152	6,718	8,877
Wales	123	215	359	1,078	1,775
Scotland	145	161	298	4,551	5,155
Northern Ireland	113	264	283	380	1,040

Figure 2.4 Average total area on holdings by country, 2024 (hectares)

Country	Average total area	Average total area on holdings with >=20 hectares
England	87	141
Wales	47	100
Scotland	118	294
Northern Ireland	40	64
United Kingdom	80	148

Notes for tables 2.3a and 2.3b:

1. Totals may not equal the sum of the component parts due to rounding.

Source: June Surveys/Census of Agriculture/SAF land data Scotland.

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Agriculture Workforce

The agricultural workforce in 2024 decreased by 2.0%, reducing the total number of workers to 453 thousand. Farmers, business partners, directors and spouses accounted for 65% of the total workforce.

Figure 2.5 Agricultural workforce on commercial holdings at June of each year, 2022 to 2024 (thousand)

Enquiries: Will Drabble on +44 (0) 3000 600 170
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Year	Farmers, business partners, directors and spouses (full time)	Farmers, business partners, directors and spouses (part time)	Regular employees, salaried managers and casual workers	Total workforce
2022	147	155	168	470
2023	148	151	163	462
2024	145	148	160	453

Notes:

1. Part-time is defined as working less than 39 hours per week (England & Wales), 38 hours per week (Scotland) and 30 hours per week (N. Ireland).

2. For workforce numbers in earlier years see Structure of the agricultural industry.

Source: June Surveys/Census of Agriculture

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Historical data on the proportion of holders by age group, up to and including 2016, are available and can be found in table 2.6 of the dataset for this chapter.