Accredited official statistics

Summary

Updated 9 July 2026

All figures relate to 2025 and the change between 2024 and 2025 unless otherwise stated.

Structure of industry

• The Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) increased by 0.4% to 17 million hectares, covering 69% of land in the UK.

• The total croppable area decreased by 0.7% in 2025 to 6.1 million hectares.

• The cereal crops area increased by 1.6% to 3.0 million hectares.

• The area of oilseed crops planted decreased by 18% to 261 thousand hectares.

• The total number of cattle and calves decreased by 1.3% to 9.3 million animals. The beef herd decreased by 4.1% to 1.3 million animals. The dairy herd increased by 0.7% to 1.8 million animals.

• The total number of pigs increased by 0.5% to 4.7 million animals. The total number of female pigs in the breeding herd decreased by 3.3% to 316 thousand animals.

• The total number of sheep and lambs decreased by 1.7% to 30 million animals.

• The total number of poultry increased by 4.1% to 183 million birds.

• The total agricultural workforce on commercial holdings decreased by 1.5% to 446 thousand people.

Go to Chapter 2: Structure of industry

Farming income

• In 2024/25, the average Farm Business Income (FBI) across all farm types in Great Britain was £66,500 compared to the UK average of £43,500 in 2023/24 (data for Northern Ireland were not available when Agriculture in the UK was compiled). The 2024/25 increase in FBI follows a fall in 2023/24, after the exceptional highs seen for some farm types in 2022/23.

• FBI varies greatly with 21% of farms in Great Britain failing to make a positive FBI in 2024/25, while 38% of farms had an FBI of over £50,000.

• In 2025/26, with the exception of dairy and lowland grazing livestock farms, average FBI is forecast to fall for farms in England, continuing the pattern of considerable variability seen in recent years. The picture is mixed in terms of key drivers, but lower cereal prices compounded by extremely variable yields in 2025 are forecast to be major factors alongside the reduction to the delinked Basic Payment.

Go to Chapter 3: Farming income

Accounts

• UK Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in 2025 was £8.4 billion, an increase of £1.4 billion (+21%) from 2024. After a period of relative stabilisation in input costs in 2025, the large increase in TIFF was primarily driven by higher commodity prices in the beef and dairy sectors, which led to a substantial rise in the value of outputs.

• Total livestock output in 2025 increased by £2.1 billion (+10%) from 2024, to £22.2 billion, with large increases for beef (+23%) and milk (+12%) driven by high commodity prices.

• In 2025, total crop output decreased by £0.4 billion (-3.1%) from 2024, to £11.4 billion, driven by falls in the values of barley (-17%), sugar beet (-22%) and potatoes (-5.4%). All three crops saw substantial price drops, despite variable production and quality.

• Intermediate consumption increased by £0.3 billion (+1.6%) from 2024, to £21.6 billion in 2025. The small overall increase was driven by increases in the values of other goods and services, fertilisers and total maintenance.

• In 2025, agriculture’s contribution to the UK economy (Gross Value Added at basic prices) was £15.9 billion (0.6% of GVA). This constitutes an increase of £1.4 billion (+10%) in GVA compared to 2024.

• Despite recent volatility in TIFF, the longer-term trend is of overall improvement, with TIFF more than tripling in real terms between 2000 and 2025. However, TIFF in 2024 remains 37% lower in real terms than the series high of £13.4 billion seen in 1973.

Go to Chapter 4: Accounts

Productivity

• Total Factor Productivity is estimated to have increased by 0.9% between 2024 and 2025. This was driven by an increase in the volume of outputs, offsetting a small increase in the volume of inputs.

• The volume of all outputs increased by 1.8%, with an increase of 2.7% in total crop output and an increase of 1.5% in total livestock output.

• The volume of all inputs increased by 0.9%. There was a mixture of increases and decreases in volume across intermediate consumption with an overall increase of 2.3%.

Go to Chapter 5: Productivity

Prices

• The annual average price index for all agricultural outputs increased by 3.0% from 2024 to 2025.
• The largest upward contribution to the annual inflation rate for agricultural outputs was from cattle and calves (4.8 percentage points), followed by milk (1.4 percentage points). The main downward contributions came from potatoes (-1.7 percentage points) and cereals (-1.2 percentage points).
• The annual average price index for all agricultural inputs increased by 0.2% from 2024 to 2025.
• The largest upward contribution to the annual inflation rate for agricultural inputs was from fertilisers and soil improvers (0.9 percentage points). The largest downward contribution was from compound feedingstuffs (-0.7 percentage points).

Go to Chapter 6: Prices

Crops

• Harvested production of wheat increased by 7.3% to just under 12 million tonnes, due to increased area offsetting a decrease in average yields. The value of production was 0.5% higher at £2.1 billion.

• Harvested production of barley decreased by 10% to 6.4 million tonnes. The value of production was 17% lower at just under £1.0 billion.

• Oilseed rape production increased by 7% to 893 thousand tonnes. The value of production was 20% higher at £408 million.

• Sugar beet production fell by 7.1% to 7.3 million tonnes. The value of production decreased by 22% to £286 million.

• The value of vegetable production rose by 0.4% to just over £2.1 billion.

• The value of fruit production increased by 5.0% to just over £1.1 billion.

• The value of potato production fell 5.4% to just under £1.5 billion.

Go to Chapter 7: Crops

Livestock

• The value of beef and veal increased by 23% to £5.1 billion. Home-fed production decreased by 3.4% to 898 thousand tonnes.

• The value of pig meat increased by 0.7% to £1.8 billion. Home-fed production increased by 2.6% to 937 thousand tonnes.

• The value of mutton and lamb increased by 5.9% to £1.9 billion. Home-fed production increased by 1.9% to 282 thousand tonnes.

• The value of poultry meat increased by 0.6% to £3.4 billion. Home-fed production increased by 0.2% to 2.0 million tonnes.

• The value of milk and milk products increased by 12% to £7.0 billion. The volume of milk production for human consumption increased by 5.0% to 15.8 billion litres.

• The value of eggs for human consumption increased by 7.0% to £1.5 billion. Production increased by 5.2% to 1.1 billion dozen.

Go to Chapter 8: Livestock

Intermediate consumption

• The total cost of intermediate consumption was £21.6 billion, an increase of £331 million (+1.6%) from 2024.

• The value of animal feed decreased by £32 million (-0.4%) from 2024 to £7.1 billion.

• The value of energy decreased by £41 million (-2.1%) from 2024 to £1.9 billion.

• The value of fertilisers increased by £92 million (+5.5%) from 2024 to £1.8 billion.

Go to Chapter 9: Intermediate consumption

Agricultural support payments

• Total payments and support payments to the agricultural industry increased by 9.7% to £4.9 billion.
• Payments associated with the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the replacement De-linked Payment Scheme (DPS) decreased by 34% to £1.0 billion.
• Payments associated with agri-environment schemes increased by 65% to £1.8 billion.

Go to Chapter 10: Agricultural support payments

Agri-environment

• Estimated greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions from agriculture have fallen 15% between 1990 and 2024.
• After a continuous increase from 2010 to 2018, total pesticide usage declined 27% in 2020. This was followed by an 18% increase in 2022, followed by a 14% decline in 2024 to levels seen in 2020.
• Since the late 1990s, nitrogen and phosphate fertiliser application rates have fallen, and were at their lowest in 2022. Phosphate application rates have remained at their lowest through to 2024 at 10 kg/ha, while nitrogen application rates increased in 2023 before declining again in 2024 to 73 kg/ha.
• Soil nutrient balances for nitrogen and phosphorus have fluctuated over time, but have shown an overall downward trend and were at their lowest levels in 2022 at 78kg/ha and 4.5kg/ha for nitrogen and phosphorus respectively.

Go to Chapter 11: Agri-environment

Organics

• 540 thousand hectares were farmed organically in the UK.

• 56% of UK organic land was in England, 31% in Scotland, 12% in Wales and 1.2% in Northern Ireland.

• Permanent pasture (including rough grazing) accounted for 64% of organic land in the UK, covering 346 thousand hectares.

• 9.3% of organic land in the UK was used to grow cereals (50 thousand hectares).

• 2.8% of cattle in the UK were reared organically.

• There were a total of 5,004 organic operators in the UK.

Go to Chapter 12: Organics

Overseas trade

Key results for 2025 and comparisons to 2024 in real terms (adjusted for trade price inflation).

• The value of food, feed and drink exports decreased by £0.2 billion (0.9%) to £25.7 billion.
• The value of food, feed and drink imports increased by £3.1 billion (4.8%) to £67.8 billion.
• The trade gap in food, feed and drink increased by £3.3 billion (8.6%) to £42.1 billion.
• Principal destinations for exports were Ireland (£4.6 billion), France (£2.9 billion), the United States (£2.8 billion) and the Netherlands (£1.7 billion).
• The main countries of dispatch for imports into the UK were the Netherlands (£8.1 billion), France (£6.1 billion), Ireland (£5.8 billion) and Belgium (£5.2 billion).
• Whisky continued to have the highest export value, totalling £5.4 billion. This was a decrease of 6.6% compared to the previous year.
• Fresh fruit and vegetables together remained the highest value category for imports, totalling £8.2 billion, an increase of 4.4%.
• Exports of fresh vegetables fell by 15% to £83 million, but exports of fresh fruit rose by 6.0% to £80 million.

Go to Chapter 13: Overseas trade

The food chain

• In 2024, the agri-food sector (excluding fishing) in the United Kingdom accounted for a total estimated Gross Value Added (GVA) of £162.3bn or 6.2% of national GVA, an increase of 6.6% since 2023.

• Employment in the agri-food sector in Great Britain was 4.1 million over the 12-month period to the fourth quarter of 2025, a 1% fall on the previous year.

• Total Factor Productivity of the food chain in 2024 showed no significant change compared to 2023, while the productivity of the wider economy increased by 0.4%. In the 10 years prior to 2024, the average annual growth rate of the food chain was 0.8%, while the wider economy’s average annual growth rate was 0.3%.

• Consumer expenditure on food and alcoholic drinks was £303.3bn in 2025, an increase of 1.1% from £300bn in 2024 in real terms.

• The food production to supply ratio is estimated to be 60% for all food and 72% of indigenous type food in 2025.

Go to Chapter 14: The food chain