National statistics

Total income from farming in England in 2022

Updated 6 July 2023

Applies to England

This release presents the account of Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in England for 2022.^{[footnote 1]}

TIFF is the income to those who own businesses within the agricultural industry. It is the total profit from all UK farming businesses on a calendar year basis. It measures the return to all entrepreneurs for their management, inputs, labour and capital invested. The term ‘income’ used throughout this notice refers to TIFF.

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Section 1: Key messages

In this section, all values are provided in current prices which is considered the most intuitive approach for comparisons over a short time period. It should be noted that these values have not been adjusted for inflation, which was unusually high in 2022 at 5.0%.

• TIFF in England in 2022 was £5.7 billion, an increase of £0.6 billion (12.9%) from 2021.

• In 2022 agriculture’s contribution to England’s economy (Gross Value Added (GVA^{[footnote 2]}) at basic prices^{[footnote 3]}) was £10.4 billion, an increase of £1.2 billion (13.0%) from 2021.

• Total crop output in 2022 was £11.4 billion, an increase of £2.0 billion (21.1%) from 2021.

• Total livestock output in 2022 was £12.3 billion, an increase of £1.5 billion (14.2%) from 2021.

• Intermediate consumption in 2022 was £15.9 billion, an increase of £2.6 billion (19.3%) from 2021.

Table 1: The 5 largest changes from 2021 to 2022 (£ million)

Account item	Change from 2021 to 2022
Animal feed	+ 1,261
Wheat	+ 1,229
Milk	+ 1,129
Fertilisers	+ 786
Energy	+ 539

1.1 Recent comparison of TIFF in England

Figure 1: TIFF in England: 2017 to 2022 at current prices^{[footnote 4]}

Chart 1 is a bar chart showing the Total Income from Farming in England for the past 6 years. The average TIFF over these 6 years is £4.2 billion with the lowest TIFF of £3.2 billion in 2018 and the highest TIFF of £5.7 billion in 2022. The second highest TIFF in the last 6 years was £5.0 billion in 2021.

Section 2: Outputs and subsidies

In this section we provide a detailed comparison of the outputs and subsidies from the TIFF account for the past 2 years in current prices. This approach is considered the most intuitive for comparisons over a short time period.

2.1 Overview

Figure 2.1: Outputs breakdown from TIFF in England: 2017 to 2022 at current prices

Chart 2 shows the breakdown of the outputs from the agricultural industry across the last 6 years by percentage between: crops, livestock, other agricultural activities and inseparable non-agricultural activities. In 2022 the breakdown by percentage was: 43.4% for crops, 46.8% for livestock, 5.6% for inseparable non-agricultural activities and 4.2% for other agricultural activities. The order of largest to smallest contribution to the accounts has consistently been livestock, crops, inseparable non-agricultural activities followed by other agricultural activities for the past 6 years.

2.2: Comparing outputs and subsidies from 2021 and 2022

This comparison of the TIFF account from the two most recent years is made between values that have not been adjusted for inflation. This approach is considered the most intuitive for comparisons year to year. See the dataset for the full set of values expressed in current prices. This section contains commentary offering explanation for the values estimated for 2022 and how they have changed since 2021.

2.2.1 Livestock

Figure 2.2: Main contributors to livestock output (£ million)^(a)(b)

Account item	2021	2022
Milk	3,015	4,144
Poultry	2,558	2,622
Beef	1,662	1,845
Pigmeat	1,108	1,325
Livestock gfcf	992	1,132
Mutton and lamb	908	874
Eggs	497	311

^(a) gfcf stands for gross fixed capital formation

^(b)Cattle, sheep and pigs for meat have been renamed beef, mutton and lamb, and pigmeat respectively. The data used to calculate these values has not changed.

View the full TIFF current terms table

Download the full TIFF dataset

• The largest contribution to livestock in TIFF in England in 2022 was milk, contributing £4,144 million. The value of milk was £1,129 million higher than in 2021, this value increase was due to a 12.9 pence per litre increase in the average farmgate price of milk in the UK from 2021. Historically milk prices have been increasing steadily year-on-year whilst following a seasonal pattern of rising to a high in winter and falling to a low in early summer. Milk prices started in 2022 at an all time high, in current prices, and continued to rise every month throughout the year. These price increases were driven by a record high cost of production, which initially pushed some farmers out of the industry.

• The biggest value change in livestock from 2021 was also in milk, increasing by £1,129 million. The second biggest change in a livestock item value was in pigmeat which increased by £217 million. This increase in the value of pigmeat resulted from a combination of a 0.6% increase in home killed pigmeat production and an increase in price from March to September (due to intervention schemes), with prices then remaining stable from October.

• The largest percentage change in a livestock item was also in milk, increasing by 37.4% from 2021. The next largest percentage change was in eggs which fell by 37.4% (£186 million) from 2021. This decrease in the value of eggs was driven by an overall decrease in production and a lower proportion of high value free range eggs, which together outweighed the impact of price increases throughout the year. There was a general decrease in production as a result of high input costs, Avian Influenza and a sectoral shift away from intensive and towards free range/barn production systems. Additionally, housing orders due to Avian Influenza in Spring and Winter 2022 meant that eggs normally produced through free range systems were instead sold as lower value barn eggs.

2.2.2 Crops

Figure 2.3: Main contributors to crop output (£ million)^(a)

Account item	2021	2022
Wheat	2,462	3,691
Fresh vegetables	1,426	1,496
Plants and flowers	1,471	1,434
Barley	852	1,327
Fruits	709	785
Oilseed rape	427	771
Other crop products	828	588
Potatoes	491	456
Protein crops	213	230
Sugar beet	210	223
Forage plants	154	107

^(a) Potato prices and yield information were previously obtained from the AHDB who stopped producing data midway through in 2021. For 2022 we have estimated yields based on input from sector representatives, devolved administrations and coverage of the sector in the farming press. For prices we made use of the Northern Ireland published potato price figures.

View the full TIFF current terms table

Download the full TIFF dataset

• The largest contribution to crop in TIFF in England in 2022 was wheat, contributing £3,691 million. This increase of £1,229 million in the value of wheat was a result of increases in both price and volume of production. In 2022 the unit value of wheat increased by 35.0% in the UK because the global cereals market was severely impacted by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022. The volume of wheat produced in the UK in 2022 was 11.2% higher than in 2021, driven by an increased average yield of 10.3%. The crop benefited from strong planting conditions at the end of 2021 and was able to be harvested slightly earlier because of the unusually hot summer months.

• The biggest value change in crops from 2021 was also in wheat, increasing by £1,229 million. The second biggest change in a crops item value was in barley which increased by £475 million. Similarly to wheat, the price increase was mainly dictated by the global cereals market, but there was also a bounce back of the brewing industry following Covid-19, which increased demand for barley and therefore price.

• The largest percentage change in a crop item was in oilseed rape, increasing by 80.5% (£344 million) from 2021. Oilseed rape prices increased sharply following the instigation of the conflict in Ukraine, peaking in April before coming back down as the year went on, with an overall average price increase of 29.7% in the UK. Despite the high prices farmers are wary of growing oilseed rape due to the banning of common treatments that help stave off the cabbage stem flea beetle.

2.2.3 Other outputs and subsidies

Figure 2.4: Breakdown of other outputs and subsidies (£ million)^(a)(b)

Account item	2021	2022
Other subsidies less taxes not linked to production	2,136	1,985
Inseparable non-agricultural activities	1,265	1,460
Other agricultural activities	1,057	1,111

^(a)Since 2012, subsidies linked to production have only been paid in Scotland.

^(b)‘Subsidies not linked to production’ includes all subsidies not directly linked to production, including the basic payment scheme and agri-environment schemes.

View the full TIFF current terms table

Download the full TIFF dataset

Section 3: Inputs and costs

3.1 Overview

In this section we provide a detailed comparison of the inputs and costs from the TIFF account for the past 2 years in current prices. This approach is considered the most intuitive for comparisons over a short time period.

Figure 3.1: Inputs breakdown from TIFF in England: 2017 to 2022 at current prices

Chart 3 shows the breakdown of the costs from the agricultural industry across the last 5 years by percentage between: intermediate consumption, total fixed capital consumption, compensation of employees, and rent and other costs. In 2022 the breakdown by percentage was: 70.5% for intermediate consumption, 17.2% for total fixed capital consumption, 9.2% for compensation of employees and 3.1% for rent and other costs. The order of largest to smallest contribution to the accounts has consistently been intermediate consumption, total fixed capital consumption, compensation of employees followed by rent and other costs for the past 6 years.

3.2 Comparing inputs and costs from 2021 and 2022

3.2.1 Intermediate consumption

Figure 3.2: Main contributors to intermediate consumption (£ million)

Account item	2021	2022
Animal feed	4,478	5,739
Other goods and services	2,412	2,291
Fertilisers	959	1,745
Energy	1,070	1,609
Total maintenance	1,506	1,555
Agricultural services	1,056	1,106
Plant protection products	758	832
Seeds	712	652
Veterinary expenses	276	277

View the full TIFF current terms table

Download the full TIFF dataset

• The largest contribution to intermediate consumption in TIFF in England in 2022 was animal feed, contributing £5,739 million, £1,261 million more than in 2021. The volume of animal feed used in the UK in 2022 decreased from 2021, with compound animal feed decreasing by 4.4% and straights by 11.3%. However this was more than offset by significant price increases for both compound (+29.7%) and straight (+22.5%) feeds in the UK, which drove the overall increase in value.

• The biggest value change in intermediate consumption from 2021 was also in animal feed, increasing by £1,261 million. The second biggest change in an intermediate consumption item value was in fertilisers which increased by £786 million. This rise was due to an increase in the price of fertiliser that far outweighed the reduction in volume used. Fertiliser production is energy intensive and the industry was heavily impacted by increasing natural gas prices, resulting in reduced domestic production and supply. In 2022 the average price of fertiliser increased by 103.9% from 2021 (with some individual fertiliser prices up by more than 300%). The reduction in volume of 12.8% (in the UK) came about because farmers were incentivised, by the high cost of fertiliser, to target application far more specifically than in other years, something which was only feasible due to the excellent growing conditions from late 2021 into 2022.

• The largest percentage change in an intermediate consumption item was also in fertilisers, increasing by 82.0% from 2021. The next largest percentage change was in energy which increased by 50.3% (£539 million) from 2021. ‘Energy’ as an intermediate consumption takes into account ‘electricity and fuels for heating’ as well as ‘motor and machinery fuels’ both of which increased in price. This is reflective of the wider UK energy crisis, which has been further impacted by the war in Ukraine. There was a slight reduction in volume, primarily in electricity and fuels for heating, as less drying of crops was required due to warm harvesting weather.

3.2.2 Other inputs and costs

Figure 3.3: Breakdown of other inputs and costs involved in agriculture (£ million)

Account item	2021	2022
Equipment fcc(a)	1,641	1,795
Livestock fcc	1,073	1,210
Buildings fcc	810	883
Rent	453	447
Interest	259	262

^(a) fcc stands for fixed capital consumption which is also referred to as consumption of fixed capital elsewhere

View the full TIFF current terms table

Download the full TIFF dataset

Section 4: Long term trends of TIFF in England

Values in this section are expressed in real terms at 2022 prices. The figures have been adjusted to account for inflation, which allows more meaningful comparisons between years over the longer term. However it should be noted that inflation was unusually high in 2022 at 5.0%.

Figure 4: TIFF in England in real terms^{[footnote 5]} from 2000 to 2022

View the full TIFF real terms table

Download the full TIFF dataset

• In 2002 TIFF almost doubled to nearly £2 billion from the previous year then remained similar through till 2007.

• In 2008 TIFF almost doubled again to nearly £4 billion and was similar in 2009.

• In 2010 TIFF then fell to £3.3 billion before jumping to £4.4 billion in 2011.

• From 2011 to 2014 TIFF remained fairly constant with the highest TIFF in the time series so far coming in 2013.

• TIFF fell sharply in 2015 driven by lower commodity prices and a stronger pound. In 2016 the exchange rate improved but a poor harvest drove TIFF to below £3 billion for the first time since 2007.

• In 2017, as a result of a favourable combination of a weaker pound, strong commodity prices and high levels of production TIFF jumped to over £4 billion again.

• In 2018 extreme weather conditions led to a poor harvest. However, this drove up prices which meant the the 16% fall in TIFF was a smaller decrease than there would otherwise have been. Then in 2019, favourable weather produced modest increases to both crop output and TIFF.

• Although 2020 was dominated by Covid-19, agriculture was more heavily impacted by bad weather at the end of 2019, which caused winter crops to fail. As a result farmers switched to spring sown crops, which require more attendance with machinery but less fertiliser. This meant that one of the impacts of Covid-19, driving down energy prices, had a positive impact on TIFF as the price of red diesel decreased. All these and other complications meant that TIFF only ended up falling slightly in 2020 from 2019.

• 2021 saw a return to more usual crops yields as well as an increase in the value of livestock outputs Together these offset a large increase in input costs leading to the largest TIFF in England in real terms this century so far.

• 2022 saw an increase in TIFF in real terms of £397 million (7.5%) from 2021. Although high prices increased input costs, these were more than outweighed by high commodity prices for the outputs resulting in the highest TIFF in England in real terms since 1996.

Section 5 - About these statistics

5.1 Contact details

Tim Buttanshaw farmaccounts@defra.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8026 3601
Media enquiries: 0345 051 8486 Public enquiries: 0845 601 3034

Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH

5.2 National statistics status

National Statistics are produced to high professional standards. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference. The statistics last underwent a full assessment in 2014 by the UK Statistics Authority’s Assessment team. A copy of the full report can be found on the internet, Assessment Report 271 Statistics on Agriculture. The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in December 2017 following a compliance check by the UK Statistics Authority (now the Office for Statistics Regulation) against the Code of Practice for Statistics. The compliance check letter can be found on the UK Statistics Authority 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 enhanced data quality by reviewing methodologies and data sources

5.3 Methodology

TIFF refers to income generated by production within the agricultural industry, including subsidies. TIFF represents business profits and remuneration for work done by owners and other unpaid workers. It excludes changes in the values of assets and stocks due to price changes, but includes non-agricultural activities such as further processing or tourist activities where these cannot be separated from the agricultural business. TIFF is the preferred measure of aggregate income for the agricultural industry, conforming to internationally agreed national accounting principles required by the UK National Accounts.

Values for England are derived by subtracting similar accounts for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom agricultural production and income account. Latest account information for the UK can be found at United Kingdom: Total Income from Farming statistics. Similar information for devolved administrations are available at Scotland: Total Income from Farming statistics, Wales: Aggregate agricultural output and income statistics and Northern Ireland: Aggregate agricultural account statistics.

The UK level estimates used as a starting point for the estimates in this release were published by Defra on 25 May 2023. The estimates for the Devolved Administrations, which were deducted from the UK estimates, were based on the latest figures published by Wales and Northern Ireland while figures for Scotland have been estimated due to a temporary hiatus in their reporting to enable development.

The Scottish data which was estimated for this release, the outputs data, was estimated by applying the percentage change on the UK figures to the Scotland figures from the previous year. Other more data intensive methods were explored but the results differed minimally and due to values for England being much larger than values for Scotland any impact from these other methods was very small.

5.4 Revisions

Revisions are intended to increase the precision of the estimates and are routinely the result of more data becoming available over time. Sometimes additional revisions are necessary to refine the methodology or correct historical errors.

TIFF is the relatively small difference between two large numbers and is therefore sensitive to small percentage changes in the values of Outputs and Intermediate Consumption. A combination of a revision downwards in Output and revision upwards in Intermediate Consumption leads to more sizeable revisions in percentage terms to GVA and TIFF.

The estimate of TIFF for 2021, published in July 2022, has been revised upwards by £799 million (18.9%). TIFF is calculated as the (relatively small) difference between two large numbers, ‘outputs and subsidies’ and ‘inputs and costs’, and so minor changes in these numbers can feed through to cause a large change in the value of TIFF. The 18.9% increase in TIFF in 2021 is the result of a 1.9% increase in ‘outputs and subsidies’ and a 1.7% decrease in ‘inputs and costs (See Table 6 below).

Table 5.4.1: Revisions in total outputs, costs and TIFF for 2021 in current prices (£ million)

Item	Previous estimate for 2021 (Published July 2022)	Current estimate for 2021 (Published July 2023)	% change (from July 22 to July 23 estimate)
All outputs and subsidies	24,162	24,627	1.9%
All inputs and costs	19,939	19,605	-1.7%
TIFF	4,223	5,022	18.9%

The main amendments on the output side of the account were in inseparable non-agricultural activities (diversification) and in the value of poultry. Due to a lack of data at the time of the previous release for the UK, the value for diversification was carried forward from 2020. This year using the Farm Business Survey data we have estimated diversification in 2021 to be £146 million higher than the previously used value. The value of poultry for meat for 2021 was revised upwards due to a change in the methodology in estimating hatchery numbers, this had the effect of increasing the value of poultry by £129 million.

Table 5.4.2: Revisions larger than £100 million in outputs for 2021 in current prices (£ million)

Item	Previous estimate for 2021 (Published July 2022)	Current estimate for 2021 (Published July 2023)	% change (from July 22 to July 23 estimate)
Poultry	2,429	2,558	5.3%
Inseparable non-agricultural activities	1,119	1,265	13.0%

The largest amendments on the costs side of the account were decreases in the value of fertilisers and animal feed. Revisions to 2021 animal feed accounts are due to a combination of revised usage data and additional information coming from trade figures. The fertiliser market commentary which our estimate was based on predicted an increase in 2021 larger than results of the Farm Business Survey would indicate. This is possibly because there was a feed through of forward buying which meant that the volume of fertilisers used and thus reflected in the market commentary did not reflect the volume of fertiliser bought.

Table 5.4.3: Revisions larger than £100 million in inputs and costs for 2021 in current prices (£ million)

Item	Previous estimate for 2021 (Published July 2022)	Current estimate for 2021 (Published July 2023)	% change (from July 22 to July 23 estimate)
Fertilisers	1,077	959	-11.0%
Animal feed	4,731	4,478	-5.4%

As a result of more data becoming available over time there have also been minor revisions to earlier years in this release. These revisions are intended to enhance the precision of these estimates. Sometimes additional revisions are necessary to refine the methodology or correct historical errors.

Further information can be found on the webpage for Defra’s policy statement on revisions and correction.

5.5 Summary quality report

A summary quality report for this statistical release can be found on the GOV.UK website for Aggregate agricultural accounts. This is an overview note which is not release specific and was last updated in March 2019. It pulls together key qualitative information on the various dimensions of quality as well as providing a summary of methods used to compile the output. It relates to estimates of Total Income from Farming and aims to provide users with information on usability and fitness for purpose of these estimates.

5.6 Quality assurance

DEFRA has in place quality assurance processes to check the accuracy and reliability of the aggregate agricultural accounts that include:

• Ongoing review of methods employed in the calculation of the accounts.

• Assessment of the quality of the estimates of items of the accounts with experts within DEFRA.

• Discussion of items of the accounts with external experts.

5.7 Development areas

DEFRA statisticians carry out a continuous review of methods employed in making estimates of the production and income accounts. This may lead to revisions to data series owing to improvements in methods, in addition to the use of more up-to-date information.

5.8 Main users and uses of these statistics

The aggregate agricultural accounts are used both within government and by the wider agricultural industry in conjunction with other economic information to:

• Monitor the productivity and competitiveness of the farming industry.

• Inform policy decisions and to help monitor and evaluate current policies relating to agriculture in the UK by Government.

• Inform stakeholders of the performance of the agricultural industry.

• Inform research into the economic performance of the agricultural industry.

5.9 User engagement

As stated at the start of this release, part of our ongoing commitment to compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, is to strengthen our engagement with users of these statistics and better understand the use made of them as well as the types of decisions that they inform. Thus, we invite users to make themselves known, to advise us of the use they do, or might, make use of these statistics, and what their wishes are in terms of engagement. Feedback on this notice and inquiries about these statistics is also welcomed. Please complete this feedback form to tell us how you use this statistical notice.

If you have any other feedback you wish to provide, please get in contact using the details provided in the ‘What you need to know about his release’ section.

5.10 Future publications

These estimates for 2022 will be subject to minor revisions in future publications of TIFF in England. The next estimates for TIFF in England for 2023 will be published in the summer of 2024. The availability of additional data and revised data will be incorporated to improve the accuracy of the estimates.

To find out the latest information on when UK government statistics will be released, go to the gov.uk Research and statistics webpage and select ‘Statistics (up-coming)’.

5.11 Other publications relevant to this release

A number of publications released by DEFRA, are relevant to this release. Below is a list of the key publications and links to them on GOV.UK

• Total Factor Productivity of the UK agricultural industry

• Total Income from Farming in the UK

• Total Income from Framing for the Regions of England

• Farm Business Survey: Farm Business Income

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1. There has previously been a provisional and final update to this TIFF account however in reallocation of resources, following consultation with stakeholders, we have moved to an annual release schedule. ↩

2. GVA (Gross value added) is the value of all goods and services produced minus the cost of all the inputs; raw materials and labour etc. ↩

3. Basic prices refers to the fact that there are no subsidies included in this value. ↩

4. Current terms means that the values from previous years have not been adjusted for inflation. ↩

5. Real terms means that the values from previous years have been adjusted for inflation using the current year as a baseline. ↩