Official Statistics

Energy use on farms in England 2023/24

Published 21 August 2025

Applies to England

This release provides details on the types of fuel used by farm businesses, as well as the generation and sale of renewable energy by farm businesses, including plans for the future. This release also contains details on farm carbon audits, including the most commonly used carbon calculators and the actions farms have taken based on their carbon audits.

Official statistics in development

This survey module used to collect the data in this publication is still under development, with improvements planned for the collection process and data validation. Therefore, this publication is categorised as official statistics in development. For more information, see section 5.2.

Points which apply throughout

1. The Farm Business Survey is the source for all data presented in tables and charts unless otherwise stated.
2. All figures relate to England, unless otherwise stated, and cover a March to February fiscal year, with the most recent year shown ending in February 2024. Fiscal years are shown in YYYY/YY format, for example, the period of 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024 is shown as 2023/24. To ensure consistency in harvest/crop year and commonality of subsidies within any one Farm Business Survey year, only farms which have accounting years ending between 31 December and 30 April are included in the survey. Aggregate results are presented in terms of an accounting year ending on the last day of February, which is the approximate average of all farms in the Farm Business Survey.
3. Numbers of farms are rounded to the nearest 100. Percentages have been calculated on unrounded data and are rounded to the nearest 1%.
4. Due to the small sample sizes, pig and poultry farms have been combined into one farm type.
5. The acronym ‘LFA’ refers to Less Favoured Area. These areas were established in 1975 to provide support to mountainous and hill farming areas. They are areas where the natural characteristics (geology, altitude, climate, short growing season, low soil fertility, or remoteness) make it difficult for farmers to compete.
6. Where dataset tables are referred to in the text, this refers to one of the dataset files, which can be found on the publication landing page.

1. Key results

• In 2023/24, red diesel was the most commonly used fuel by farm businesses within the FBS population, at 98%, with its use per hectare increasing with farm business size (based on SLR).

• Generation of some form of renewable energy was present in 32% of all farm businesses within the FBS population, with solar power being the most popular type, at 27%.

• Within solar-generating farm businesses, 84% had solar panels installed on farm building rooftops, and 10% had field based solar panels.

• Direct financial incentives were the most common reasons for installing solar panels, with 77% of farm businesses generating solar energy wanting to reduce the cost of farm energy bills.

• By 2023/24, carbon audits had been carried out on 20% of all farm businesses within the FBS population, with dairy farms most likely to have been carbon audited, at 57%.

2. Fuel and energy use

Farm businesses use a wide variety of energy and fuel types in their activities. A detailed explanation of each fuel type can be found in the definitions section of this publication.

2.1 Fuel type usage

Figure 2.1: Percentage of farm businesses using the different fuel types and electricity, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset tables 1.3, 1.7, 1.11, 1.13 and 1.14

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Some fuel types have been abbreviated: Derv refers to diesel engine road vehicle, also known as white diesel; LPG refers to liquefied petroleum gas; RFO refers to residual fuel oil.

Figure 2.1 shows that red diesel was the most commonly used fuel type in 2023/24, with 98% of farms using it, equating to around 50,500 farm businesses. This was followed closely by mains electricity at 96%. The least used fuel type in 2023/24 was residual fuel oil (RFO), with only 4% of farm businesses using this fuel.

2.2 Red diesel usage

Figure 2.2: Distribution of farm businesses by red diesel use (litres per hectare, l/ha) by farm type, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 1.8

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row left to right, then the bottom row left to right).

2. White bars with black outlines and the symbol [c] indicate that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size. Where the bar is less than 5% wide, the symbol [c] is not displayed. The size of the bar does not indicate the suppressed value. Suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 2.2 shows that red diesel use varied greatly between farm types in 2023/24, Less Favoured Area (LFA) grazing livestock and lowland grazing livestock farms had the lowest red diesel usage rates per hectare, with 67% and 35% respectively using less than 50 l/ha.

Specialist pigs and poultry and dairy farms had the highest red diesel usage rates, with over half of farms using more than 150 l/ha of red diesel (58% and 57% respectively).

The majority of cereals, mixed and general cropping farms used between 50 and 150 l/ha of diesel (at 74%, 60% and 53% respectively). In contrast, horticulture farms had a relatively even distribution across the fuel use bands.

Figure 2.3: Distribution of farm businesses by red diesel use (litres per hectare, l/ha) by farm business size (based on SLR), England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 1.8

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row left to right, then the bottom row left to right).

2. White bars with black outlines and the symbol [c] indicate that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size. Where the bar is less than 5% wide, the symbol [c] is not displayed. The size of the bar does not indicate the suppressed value. Suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 2.3 shows that, in 2023/24, red diesel use tended to increase as farm business size (based on SLR) increased, but this was more pronounced in large and very large farms. Very large farms had the highest proportion of farms using more than 150 l/ha, at 49%, and the lowest proportion of farms using less than 50 l/ha, at 11%.

Part-time and small farms had the largest proportion of farms using less than 50 l/ha of red diesel, both at 26%.

Farm business sizes are based on the estimated Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) for the business, rather than its land area. For more detail see Table 7.1

2.3 Electricity usage

Figure 2.4: Distribution of farm businesses by mains electricity use (kilowatt-hour per hectare, kWh/ha) by farm type, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 1.4

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row left to right, then the bottom row left to right).

2. White bars with black outlines and the symbol [c] indicate that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size. Where the bar is less than 5% wide, the symbol [c] is not displayed. The size of the bar does not indicate the suppressed value. Suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 2.4 shows that, despite electricity being the second most used form of energy in farms, the survey was not able to collect data on the amount used for the majority of farm businesses. There are many potential reasons why farms were not able to report their electricity use. For example, it may have not been possible to accurately separate personal use and farm business use, or farms might not have accurate records on electricity use, which could occur for a variety of reasons. However, there are some notable patterns in electricity use across farm types.

Electricity use per hectare was highest in horticulture, specialist pigs and poultry and dairy farms, with 52%, 50% and 41% of these farms, respectively, using at least 150 kWh/ha in 2023/24. This is likely a reflection of the practices used in these farm types. For example, horticulture and pig and poultry farms use indoor systems more frequently, which operate over a smaller area than an outdoor system and require heating and lighting. Dairy farms are less likely to have entirely indoor systems but generally use electronic milking systems, resulting in relatively high energy use.

For cereals, grazing livestock and mixed farms, the most common usage category was less than 50 kWh/ha of electricity per year. Additionally, 5% of cereals farms did not use any mains electricity.

Figure 2.5: Distribution of farm businesses by electrical use (kilowatt-hour per hectare, kWh/ha) by farm business size (based on SLR), England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 1.4

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row left to right, then the bottom row left to right).

2. White bars with black outlines and the symbol [c] indicate that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size. Where the bar is less than 5% wide, the symbol [c] is not displayed. The size of the bar does not indicate the suppressed value. Suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 2.5 shows that, in 2023/24, as farm business size (based on SLR) increased, electricity use per hectare also increased. Within very large farms, 27% used at least 150 kWh/ha of electricity, in contrast to only 11% of small farms. Additionally, part-time and small farms had the highest proportions of farms using less than 50 kWh/ha, both at 20%.

3. Renewable energy generation in farm businesses

As well as buying fuel into the farm, farm businesses may also choose to generate renewable energy. A detailed explanation of each energy source can be found in the definitions section of this publication.

3.1 Renewable energy generation

Figure 3.1: Percentage of farm businesses generating renewable energy, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 2.1

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. The ‘All energy types’ category includes solar, renewable heat technologies, wind and hydroelectric, anaerobic digestion, and combined heat and power.

3. Due to small sample sizes, anaerobic digestion (AD) and combined heat and power (CHP) have been combined.

Figure 3.1 shows that in 2023/24, 32% of all farm businesses, or around 16,200 farm businesses, generated some form of renewable energy. Of these farms, 14,000 sold some of their energy to the grid (dataset table 2.4).

Solar was the most common type of renewable energy generation, with 27% of farm businesses doing this activity. This was followed by energy generation via renewable heat technologies, at 9%, then wind and hydroelectric, at 3%. Less than 1% of farms generated renewable energy via anaerobic digestion or combined heat and power.

3.2 Solar energy

Figure 3.2: Distribution of farm businesses by solar energy generated (kilowatt-hour per hectare, kWh/ha) by farm type, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 2.11

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row left to right, then the bottom row left to right).

2. White bars with black outlines and the symbol [c] indicate that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size. Where the bar is less than 5% wide, the symbol [c] is not displayed. The size of the bar does not indicate the suppressed value. Suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 3.2 shows that in 2023/24, 76% of specialist pigs and poultry farms were generating solar energy. In contrast, the second-highest proportion was in general cropping farms, at 32%.

Notably, while only 26% of horticulture farms generated solar energy, most of those produced more than 300 kWh/ha. This suggests that when horticulture farms do invest in solar, they tend to fall into the highest levels of production.

Figure 3.3: Distribution of farm businesses by solar energy generated (kilowatt-hour per hectare, kWh/ha) by farm business size (based on SLR), England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 2.11

Figure notes:

1. The legend is presented in the same order as the bars (read the top row left to right, then the bottom row left to right).

2. White bars with black outlines and the symbol [c] indicate that results have been suppressed due to a small sample size. Where the bar is less than 5% wide, the symbol [c] is not displayed. The size of the bar does not indicate the suppressed value. Suppressed values are included in the ‘All farms’ averages.

Figure 3.3 shows that in general, larger farms were more likely to generate solar energy in 2023/24. Where 43% of very large farms were generating solar energy, only 19% of small farms were doing the same.

Figure 3.4: Solar panel installation location for farm businesses with solar energy, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 3.3

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

Figure 3.4 shows the locations where farms had solar panels in 2023/24. Solar panels can be installed on farm buildings or farmhouse rooftops, or they can be field or ground based. To be classed as field based, panels must be installed on land previously used for agriculture and be part of the farm business. However, this does not mean the land is no longer used for agriculture, as fields with solar panels may continue to be used for agricultural production, for example, livestock grazing. When solar panels are installed on land which has not previously been used for agriculture, this is classed as ground based. Any land that is rented out to energy companies is not included here; instead, this is included in the ‘letting out building for non-agriculture use’ category within the farm’s diversification income; details can be found in the Farm Accounts in England publication. Data on the area of land occupied by solar panels is available in the Agricultural land use in England publication.

Of the 13,700 farm businesses with solar energy generation, 84%, had panels on a farm building rooftop, 11% had solar panels on the farmhouse rooftop, and 10% had field based solar panels. Just 2% of solar generating farm businesses had ground based solar panels.

The FBS also gave the option to report solar panels installed in other locations, for example, on canopies or glasshouse covers. However, no farms reported solar panels in any of these locations.

Figure 3.5: What were the reasons for first installing solar panels in the farm businesses, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 3.4

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. In cases where the sample contains between 1 and 5 farms, results are suppressed with the symbol ‘c’ (confidential).

3. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

Figure 3.5 shows that, in 2023/24, outcomes relating to direct financial incentives were the most common reasons why farms installed solar panels. Specifically, of the 13,700 farm businesses with solar panels, 77% wished to reduce cost of farm energy bills, 45% were motivated by direct financial reward selling electricity and 42% were hedging against future energy costs.

3.3 Reasons why farm businesses have not installed renewable energy

Figure 3.6: The top four reasons for not installing the different types of renewables in farm businesses, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 3.6

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

3. More data on this question can be found in the dataset table 3.6.

4. Some energy types have been abbreviated: RHT refers to renewable heat technologies; W & H refers to wind and hydroelectric; AD refers to anaerobic digestion; CHP refers to combined heat and power.

Figure 3.6 shows that a high proportion of farms have not explored most renewable energy options, this was the most common reason for not installing for all energy types except solar power. For solar power, the most common barrier was upfront installation costs.

For most energy types, costs being higher than benefits was also one of the main reasons for not installing. Additionally, tenancy issues and/or planning problems were among the top reasons for not installing across all energy types.

4. Carbon audits in farm businesses

Carbon audits measure the greenhouse gas emissions of organisations and their activities. Organisations perform carbon audits for many reasons, but the main objectives are usually to quantify their carbon footprint, identify and assess how the different activities of the organisation contribute to their emissions, and get recommendations for potential improvements which might reduce emissions.

There has been increasing interest and use of carbons audits across many sectors. This section looks at the prevalence of carbon audits among farm businesses in 2023/24. Where farm businesses undertook carbon audits, details are shown on the recommendations they received and what actions they took based on these recommendations.

4.1 Carbon audits

Figure 4.1: Percentage of farm businesses that have already completed a carbon audit by farm type, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 4.1

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Estimated number of farms that completed carbon audits will be higher due to the inclusion of farms that received a free carbon audit that was available to FBS participants.

Figure 4.1 shows that by 2023/24, 20% of farm businesses, around 10,100 farms, had completed a carbon audit at some point, but this was not evenly distributed across farm types. For example, the lowest proportion was 7%, seen in both specialist pig and poultry, and horticulture farms. Conversely, dairy farms had by far the highest proportion, at 57%; this may reflect that many dairy companies and retailers require carbon audits of their supply chain as part of their sustainability initiatives. The reasons farms perform carbon audits is explored further in figure 4.3.

Figure 4.2: Percentage of farm businesses that have already completed a carbon audit by farm business size (based on SLR), England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 4.1

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Estimated number of farms that completed carbon audits will be higher due to the inclusion of farms that received a free carbon audit due to participating in the FBS survey.

Figure 4.2 shows that, in general, larger farms are more likely to have performed a carbon audit than smaller farms.

Of the 10,100 farm businesses that had done a carbon audit by 2023/24, the most commonly used calculators were Agrecalc and Farm Carbon Calculator, with 44% and 23%, respectively, using these calculators.

Figure 4.3: Reasons why farm businesses had a carbon audit, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 4.6

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Only farms that had done a carbon audit are included in this analysis.

3. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

Figure 4.3 shows that, of the 10,100 farm businesses that completed a carbon audit, the most common reasons for doing so, at 31% each, were contractual obligations and general interest. The Defra Farming Resilience Programme was the third most common reason, at 15%.

Figure 4.4: Reasons why farm businesses had not done a carbon audit, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 4.7

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Only farms that have not done a carbon audit are included in this analysis.

3. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

In 2023/24, 41,200 farm businesses had never completed a carbon audit. Figure 4.4 shows that lack of knowledge of carbon audits might play a big part in this; of these farms which had never had a carbon audit, 33% were unsure of the benefits that carbon audits provide, while 23% chose not to have a carbon audit due to having limited knowledge of them.

4.2 Farm businesses following up on carbon audits results

Table 4.1: Response to carbon audit recommendations, England 2023/24

Recommendations	Number of farm businesses	Percentage within carbon audited farms
Did not receive any recommendations	2,300	23%
No longer has a record of the recommendations	2,300	23%
Received recommendations but have not followed any of them	1,800	18%
Received recommendations and have followed at least one of them	3,700	37%

Source: Dataset table 4.3

Table 4.1 shows that, of the 10,100 farm businesses that had done a carbon audit, 23% did not receive any recommendations. This may occur when the carbon audit is commissioned by another business in the supply chain, for example, a packer or a retailer, and the secondary business has not shared the recommendations with the farm businesses. On the other hand, some of the surveyed farm businesses may have been waiting to receive their recommendations at the time when their responses were collected.

An additional 23% of farm businesses could not remember their recommendations and did not have any record of them, while 18% did not follow any of the recommendations they received. The reasons why farm businesses have not followed these recommendations is explored in figure 4.6.

The remaining 37% of the carbon-audited farm businesses followed at least some of the recommendations from their carbon audit.

Figure 4.5: Actions taken by farm businesses that followed the recommendations from their carbon audits, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 4.4

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. Only farms that had done a carbon audit are included in this analysis.

3. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

Figure 4.5 shows that, of the 10,100 farm businesses that had done a carbon audit, the most common resulting action was increasing feed efficiency.

The more environmentally-centred actions were the least commonly completed, with retaining and conserving semi-natural grasslands at 8%, creating wildlife corridors at 8%, and managing existing farm woodlands at 7%.

Figure 4.6: Reasons for farms not following their carbon audit recommendations, England 2023/24

Source: Dataset table 4.5

Figure notes:

1. 95% Confidence Intervals have been presented to show the range where the true value is likely to lie and provides an indication of the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.

2. In cases where the sample contains between 1 and 5 farms, results are suppressed with the symbol ‘c’ (confidential).

3. Only farms that had done a carbon audit are included in this analysis.

4. Farms were able to choose more than one response; therefore, values may sum to more than 100%.

Figure 4.6 shows that, of the 10,100 farm businesses that had done a carbon audit, 6% had not followed their recommendations because of the time involved in implementing changes. Furthermore, 4% had not done so due to financial implications to cashflow, and 3% had not because of the high cost to implement recommended changes.

5. What you need to know about this release

5.1 Contact details

Responsible statistician: Filipe de Jesus Colwell

Public enquiries: fbs.queries@defra.gov.uk

For media queries between 9am and 6pm on weekdays:

Telephone: 0330 041 6560

Email: newsdesk@defra.gov.uk

5.2 Official Statistics in Development

Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing a development; a full 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.

This survey module used to collect the data used in this publication is still under development, with improvements planned for the collection process and data validation. For example, adding more options for responses to some questions, so that future publications can contain more detailed data.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards, using the details in section 5.1. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

5.3 User engagement

As part of our ongoing commitment to compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics we wish to strengthen our engagement with users of these statistics and better understand the use made of them and the types of decisions that they inform.

We invite users to make contact to advise us of the use they do, or might, make of these statistics, and what their wishes are in terms of engagement. Feedback on this statistical release and enquiries about these statistics are also welcome.

5.4 Survey content, methodology and data uses

The Farm Business Survey is an annual survey providing information on the financial position, physical characteristics, and economic performance of farm businesses in England. The sample of farm businesses covers all regions of England and all types of farming.

Data for the Farm Business Survey are collected through face-to-face interviews with farmers, conducted by highly trained research officers.

The data are widely used by the industry for benchmarking and inform wider research into the economic performance of the agricultural industry, as well as for evaluating and monitoring current policies. The data will also help to monitor farm businesses throughout the Agricultural Transition period.

5.5 Availability of results

This release contains headline results for each section. The full breakdown of results (when sampling permits), by farm type, farm business size (based on SLR), region, farm tenure, farmer age and farm economic performance can be found in the dataset tables.

All Defra statistical notices can be viewed on the Statistics at Defra page.

More publications and results from the Farm Business Survey are available on the Farm Business Survey Collection page.

6 Survey details

6.1 Background

There has been growing interest in more detailed energy usage data alongside greater insight into both the renewable energy and carbon audit sectors. As a result, the FBS has collected data on fuel and electrical use in farm businesses along with the quantity of renewable energy generation that occurs within the farm business. The survey has also included many follow up questions regarding the reasons why farm businesses install or do not install the different types of renewable energy. The FBS also asked farm businesses whether they had done a carbon audit, the actions farm businesses may have undertaken as a result of their carbon audit, the reasons for performing carbon audits and to the farm businesses that had not done a carbon audit, what the reasons for not doing so were.

6.2 Survey coverage and weighting

The Farm Business Survey only includes farm businesses with a Standard Output of at least £21 thousand, based on activity recorded in the previous June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture. In 2023/24, the sample of 1,373 farms represented approximately 51,300 farm businesses in England.

Initial weights are applied to the Farm Business Survey records based on the inverse sampling fraction for each design stratum (farm type and farm size). Dataset table 16 from the Farm Accounts in England publication shows the distribution of the sample compared with the distribution of businesses from the 2023 June Survey of Agriculture. These initial weights are then adjusted, using calibration weighting, so that they can produce unbiased estimates of a number of different target variables. More detailed information about the Farm Business Survey can be found on the technical notes and guidance page. This includes information on the data collected, information on calibration weighting and definitions used within the Farm Business Survey.

The data used for this analysis is from those farms present in the Farm Business Survey that have completed the energy module. In 2023/24 this subsample consisted of 1,024 farms (75% of the full sample). This subsample has been reweighted using a method that preserves marginal totals for populations according to farm type and farm size groups. As such, values shown in this publication may not exactly match results calculated using the main FBS weights.

6.3 Accuracy and reliability of the results

As it is impractical to survey the entire population of farms, estimates derived from the Farm Business Survey data are inherently subject to sampling error. This is a core principle in statistical survey methodology, which aims to infer population parameters by obtaining a representative sample through carefully designed sampling techniques. To quantify sampling error and provide a measure of uncertainty, this publication presents 95% confidence intervals for estimated means. These intervals, shown in the tables and as error bars in bar plots, indicate the range within which we expect the true population mean to lie for 95% of similarly constructed samples. Narrower confidence intervals typically indicate larger sample sizes or less variability within the sample, thereby offering more precise estimates of the population mean. Conversely, wider confidence intervals often result from smaller sample sizes or greater sample standard deviations, signalling less precision. These wider intervals should be interpreted with greater caution. Statistically, a confidence interval provides a plausible range for the true population mean based on the sample data. Specifically, a 95% confidence interval reflects a process that, under repeated sampling, would contain the true population mean in 95% of such intervals, rather than indicating a 95% probability for any single interval to include the population mean.

Percentage changes may not necessarily agree with the difference of their components due to rounding.

7 Definitions

Carbon audit

Carbon auditing, also known as carbon footprinting or carbon accounting, is the process of assessing and quantifying the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced directly or indirectly by an individual, organisation, product, or event. In the context of this publication, it is the emissions of the farm business. It involves measuring and calculating the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted as a result of activities.

First-time carbon audits allow for the creation of a baseline and identify opportunities to reduce future emissions. Continued assessments can track how actions taken have impacted these emissions and provide advice for further improvements.

Farm area

This area classification is the area designated to belong to the farm business (including woodland, roads and buildings), any land that is leased to the farm on either a permanent basis or part of a formal tenancy agreement. It does not include land rented out but does include land rented in.

Farm business size

Farm business size in the United Kingdom is measured in Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) rather than by Standard Output grouping or land area. The SLR of a farm represents the normal labour requirement for all the farm’s cropping and livestock activities under typical conditions. This is measured in Full Time Equivalents (FTE), which is the number of full-time workers required. The SLR is calculated from standard coefficients applied to each enterprise on the farm. The standard coefficients represent the input of labour required per head of livestock or per hectare of crops for enterprises of average size and performance.

Table 7.1 Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) of each farm business size category

Farm business size	SLR
Part-time	Less than 1 FTE
Small	1 to less than 2 FTE
Medium	2 to less than 3 FTE
Large	3 to less than 5 FTE
Very Large	5 or more FTE

Farm type

This refers to the ‘robust type’, which is a standardised farm classification system.

In this publication, pig and poultry have been combined into one farm type.

Fuel types

Derv: An acronym of ‘diesel engine road vehicle’ and is also known as ‘white diesel’; this is the diesel fuel available to any road-going vehicle in the UK.

Kerosene: Mainly used for heating farm buildings and in crop dryers.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG): In the UK, LPG is typically made of just propane, hence the terms LPG and propane are frequently used to refer to the same product. As with kerosene, LPG is mainly used for heating buildings and crop drying machinery in farming, but it can also be used to power vehicles, for example, some forklifts, cars and lorries.

Mains electricity: Refers to electricity drawn from the national grid for use on the farm business; electricity generated from generators or renewable energy is not considered in the electricity fuel use.

Mains gas: The rural nature of farm businesses means that mains gas is not common, however, there are some farms connected to the gas distribution network. Mains gas is mainly used for heating buildings and cooking.

Red diesel: Also known as ‘gas oil’ or ‘rebate diesel’, it is subject to lower fuel tax then derv and is reserved solely for off-road vehicles. Red diesel is the main fuel used in tractors and other farm vehicles and is also used for heating.

Residual fuel oil (RFO): Also known as heavy fuel oil or bunker oil, RFO is the leftover oil after the hydrocarbons of higher quality (such as kerosene, gasoline and diesel) are extracted from crude oil. Currently, the main users of RFO are large marine vessels, where it is the main fuel type, and some power plants. In agriculture, use of RFO will be limited to farms that have older heating installations still in use.

Fuel use, electrical use and renewable energy generation

There are some instances where it is not possible to get accurate values from a farm. In cases where the data is still reliable, the research officer provides an estimate. In cases where the data is not reliable (but are confirmed users) the farms will be included in the data unavailable band of breakdowns.

Fuel use includes fuel used by the farm business directly and any fuel used by contractors.

Renewable energy types

Anaerobic Digestion: Is a natural process in which micro-organisms break down the organic matter found in wet biomass waste (such as animal manure and slurry) in the absence of oxygen, to produce biogas (mainly a mixture of around 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide) and digestate (a nitrogen rich fertiliser). In a farming context, the biogas collected from an anaerobic digester can be used within the farm business (e.g. heating) or sold to third parties.

Battery Storage: Are batteries to store the renewable energy generated, for use at a later time.

Combined Heat and Power: Units generate electricity and heat using fuel that would typically be used only to generate either heat or electricity. For example, biogas when used only for heating, would fall into the anaerobic digestion category, but when used to provide both, it falls into the combined heat and power (CHP) category. CHP units can be fitted in domestic (micro-CHP) or large non-domestic (packaged or mini-CHP) buildings.

Renewable heat technologies: Refers to technologies that use renewable sources for the generation of heat as an alternative to fossil fuels. In the context of this publication, it covers a range of technologies including: Solid biomass (e.g. woodchips, pellets logs and straw), Solar thermal, Energy from waste, Ground and air source heat pumps, Deep geothermal.

Solar: Utilises photovoltaics (PV), which converts daylight into electricity.

Wind & Hydroelectric: Wind power generation is the process of converting the kinetic energy of wind into electricity using wind turbines. Hydroelectric power generation is the process of producing electricity by harnessing the kinetic energy of moving water. Micro or mini-hydro is the term used for installations generating power from harnessing the energy in flowing or falling water, usually referring to schemes with a generating capacity of below 100 kW – many of the schemes considered at farm scale are in this category. Smaller schemes, generating below 5 kW are often referred to as pico-hydro.