Statistical data set

Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture indicators

Indicators of progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in England.

This series is no longer being updated. Current agri-climate publications can be found listed below the ‘Agri-environment’ heading at the following location: Food, Farming and Bio-security statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The indicator framework aimed to assess progress in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions whilst research was undertaken to improve the UK agricultural GHG inventory.

The framework, developed as part of the 2012 review of progress in reducing GHG emissions from agriculture in England, consists of ten key indicators covering farmer attitudes and knowledge, the uptake of mitigation methods and the GHG emission intensity of production in key agricultural sectors. As far as possible, it reflected the farm practices which were aligned to the Industry’s Greenhouse Gas Action Plan and acknowledged the indicators set out in the Committee on Climate Change annual progress reports.

An annual assessment of progress was published each July in the Agricultural Statistics and Climate Change publication, which has now been replaced by the Agri-climate statistics report.

The Indicator Framework Summary (PDF, 271KB, 8 pages) provided a summary of the key points for each indicator and an overall assessment of the then current position.

The ten indicators of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture were:

  1. Attitudes and awareness (December 2020) (PDF, 353 KB, 4 pages)
  2. Uptake of mitigation methods (December 2020) (PDF, 383 KB, 15 pages)
  3. Soil nitrogen balance (December 2020) (PDF, 359 KB, 3 pages)
  4. Pig sector: feed conversion ratio for fattening herd (December 2020) (PDF, 260 KB, 3 pages)
  5. Grazing livestock sector: beef and sheep breeding regimes (December 2020) (PDF, 320 KB, 3 pages)
  6. Dairy sector: ratio of dairy cow feed production to milk production (December 2020) (PDF, 249 KB, 3 pages)
  7. Poultry sector: feed conversion ratio for table birds (December 2020) (PDF, 335 KB, 4 pages)
  8. Cereals and other crops: manufactured fertiliser application (December 2020) (PDF, 131 KB, 6 pages)
  9. Slurry and manure (December 2020) (PDF, 185 KB, 8 pages)
  10. Organic fertiliser application (December 2020) (PDF, 438 KB, 10 pages)

For further information please contact:
[email protected]
Twitter: @DefraStats

Updates to this page

Published 22 November 2012
Last updated 9 February 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated description with link to current agri-climate publications.

  2. Updated all indicators and the framework overview.

  3. All indicators and framework summary have been updated.

  4. Indicators 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and framework summary have been updated.

  5. Updated summary, fertiliser, slurry and mitigation indicators.

  6. Updated framework summary.

  7. Ad hoc updates (on an ongoing basis) to 7 of the 10 indicators as a result of new data becoming available.

  8. Updated reports: summary, uptake of mitigation methods, slurry and manure and organic fertiliser application.

  9. Updated framework summary.

  10. Updated indicators 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

  11. Indicator framework summary document updated.

  12. Updated all indicators.

  13. Updated slurry, fertiliser and summary reports.

  14. Updated various indicators in July 2014.

  15. Updated attitudes paper.

  16. Updated indicator 8: Cereals and other crops: manufactured fertiliser application.

  17. Updated indicator 4 (pig sector: feed conversion ratio for fattening herd).

  18. Updated indicator on the ratio of dairy cow feed production to milk production.

  19. Updated indicators 2, 9 and 10 and the framework overview with new data.

  20. Updated with July 2013 editiions as identified in title

  21. Indicator 4 (pig sector) updated.

  22. First published.