Accredited official statistics

Total income from farming in the UK in 2023

Updated 6 June 2024

This release presents the estimate for Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in the UK for 2023, and is subject to a degree of revision in future years when additional data becomes available. Consequently the estimate of TIFF for 2022, published in May 2023, has been revised upwards by £79 million (1.0%) in this release. See Section 6.2: Revisions for full details.

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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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 2023 at 7.1%.

• UK Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in 2023 was £7.2 billion, a decrease of £0.8 billion (-9.8%) from 2022. Following historically high commodity prices in 2022, driven by global events, there were reductions in the commodity prices of key crops and livestock outputs. This, coupled with a poor harvest in many crop items, was not offset by a reduction in the value of inputs resulting in a substantial reduction in TIFF.

• Total livestock output in 2023 was £19.2 billion, a decrease of £0.1 billion (-0.7%) from 2022. This decrease was driven by a fall in the value of milk (-10.1%) and sheep for meat (-2.7%). Milk farmgate prices have fallen in 2023 after the historical highs of 2022, driven by an increase in supply in the first half of 2023 and weaker demand.

• In 2023, total crop output decreased by £1.3 billion (-9.7%) from 2022, to £12.0 billion. This decrease was driven by a substantial fall in the values of wheat and barley (-28.3% and -25.7% respectively) as well as oilseed rape (-44.9%). The unit prices of these three crops decreased in 2023 from the historically high prices seen in 2022.

• Intermediate consumption decreased by £0.6 billion (-2.8%) from 2022, to £21.1 billion in 2023. This decrease was primarily driven by a 28.4% decrease in the value of fertilisers.

• In 2023, agriculture’s contribution to the UK economy (Gross Value Added^{[footnote 1]} at basic prices^{[footnote 2]}) was £13.7 billion (0.56% of GVA). This constitutes a decrease of £0.6 billion (-4.5%) in GVA compared to 2022.

Figure 1: Total Income from Farming for the United Kingdom: 2018 to 2023 at current prices

Figure 1 shows the value of TIFF from 2018 to 2023 at current prices^{[footnote 3]}. Since 2018, the average value of TIFF has been £6.2 billion, with the lowest value of £4.8 billion occurring in 2018, and the highest value of £8.0 billion occurring in 2022. TIFF in 2023 was the second highest in this period, in current prices, at £7.2 billion, though this was a fall of 9.8% from 2022.

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. It should be noted that these values have not been adjusted for inflation, which was unusually high in 2023 at 7.1%.

2.1 Overview

Figure 2: Summary of outputs and subsidies, 2018 to 2023

Notes:

1. To improve clarity, the item ‘Inseparable non-agricultural activities’ has been renamed ‘Diversification’ from this release onwards.

Figure 2 shows the value of all outputs and subsidies from 2018 to 2023. Outputs and subsidies represent all financial incomes to farmers. Total livestock output is consistently the largest contributor to the value of all outputs and subsidies. In 2023, total livestock output was £19,229 million, a decrease of £136 million (-0.7%) on 2022. The second largest contribution to the value of outputs and subsidies in 2023 was total crop output at £11,990 million, a decrease of £1,295 million (-9.7%) on 2022. The remaining incomes to farmers in 2023 were subsidies (£2,953 million), diversification (£1,863 million) and other agricultural activities (£1,637 million).

2.2 Total livestock output

Figure 3: Main contributions to total livestock output (£ million)

Item	2022	2023
Milk	6,659	5,983
Beef	3,750	3,908
Poultry	3,168	3,542
Pigmeat	1,730	1,838
Mutton and lamb	1,627	1,582
Livestock gross fixed capital formation	1,490	1,219
Eggs	774	1,003

View the full TIFF current prices table

Download the full TIFF current prices dataset

• Despite also having the largest decrease of any livestock item, the largest contribution to total livestock output in 2023 was milk with a value of £5,983 million. The average UK farmgate milk price reached a historic high of 51.6 pence per litre in December 2022. From January 2023, prices started to fall before stabilising from May 2023 onwards. Prices fell at the start of the year due to an increase in supply in the spring flush, a fall in the price of key inputs and weaker demand. Production started to decrease from the early summer, with overall production in 2023 comparable to 2022.

• In 2023, the largest value increase in total livestock output was poultry with an increase of £374 million (11.8%) on 2022. The overall value of poultry meat production in 2023 was £3.5 billion, driven by an increase of 15.9% in the value of table chickens. This was a result of price increases for poultry, with prices for table chickens rising by 15.4%. Overall, home-fed poultry meat production decreased by 0.8%, despite a 0.5% increase in table chicken meat production.

• The value of egg production in 2023 was £1,003 million, an increase of £229 million (29.5%) from 2022. This is largely as a result of the continued industry trend towards producing more free range eggs, which are priced higher than enriched eggs. Overall, egg prices increased by 40.8% from 2022 to 117 pence per dozen.

2.3 Total crop output

Figure 4: Main contributions to total crop output (£ million)^(a)(b)

Item	2022	2023
Wheat	4,062	2,912
Fresh vegetables	1,692	1,860
Plants and flowers	1,538	1,686
Barley	1,818	1,351
Fruit	1,018	1,039
Potatoes	768	1,005
Other crop products	602	589
Other industrial crops	435	578
Oilseed rape	878	483
Forage plants	200	263

^(a) Potato prices and yield information were previously obtained from the AHDB who stopped producing data midway through in 2021. From 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.

^(b) ‘Other industrial crops’ includes the value of protein crops and sugar beet.

View the full TIFF current prices table

Download the full TIFF current prices dataset

• Despite also having the largest value decrease (£1,150) and the second largest percentage decrease (-28.3%) of any output account item, the largest contribution to total crop output in 2023 was wheat with a value of £2,912 million. Harvested wheat production decreased by 10.6% from 2022, as a result of a decline in both the area planted (-5.1%) and the yield. Easing of prices throughout 2023 from the historically high prices of 2022 also contributed to the decline in the value, with milling wheat and feed wheat prices down by 13.0% and 21.6% respectively. The weather throughout the year also led to variable wheat quality, reducing the percentage of homegrown wheat that could be sold at the highest price category.

• In 2023, the largest value increase in a crop item was in potatoes, with an increase of £237 million (30.8%) from 2022, to £1,005 million in 2023. This moved the value of potatoes back above oilseed rape as an account output having swapped for the first time since 2015 in the 2022 account. This increase was driven by price, which was 40.7% higher than in 2022, and more than offset a substantial decrease in the volume of production.

• 2023 was an unfavourable year for cereal crops and oilseed rape. Poor weather reduced yields and impacted quality, and there were large reductions in commodity prices from 2022 following global market trends. This meant that values decreased substantially, with barley and oilseed rape values falling by 25.7% and 44.9% respectively.

2.4 Other Outputs and Subsidies

Table 1: Breakdown of other incomes and subsidies (£ million)

Item	2022	2023
Subsidies not linked to production	2,920	2,905
Inseparable non-agricultural activities	1,764	1,863
Other agricultural activities	1,560	1,637
Subsidies linked to production	48	48

Notes:

1. ‘Subsidies not linked to production’ includes subsidies not directly linked to production, including the basic payment scheme and agri-environment schemes, including the Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Sustainable Farming Incentive.

2. For a full breakdown of subsidies see Chapter 10: Public Payments in Agriculture in the UK. Please note there may be small differences between the ‘Subsidies not linked to production’ in Table 1 and ‘Decoupled and other payments’ in Table 10.1 and Table 10.2 due to the inclusion of one-off payments in the latter.

3. To improve clarity, the item ‘Inseparable non-agricultural activities’ has been renamed ‘Diversification’ from this release onwards.

View the full TIFF current prices table

Download the full TIFF current prices dataset

The value of subsidies not linked to production decreased by 15.5 million (-0.5%) from 2022. This decrease was driven by a 12.5% decline in the value of Basic Payment Scheme payments but partially offset by an 80.9% increase in the value of Agri-environment scheme payments.

3. Inputs and costs

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. It should be noted that these values have not been adjusted for inflation, which was unusually high in 2023 at 7.1%.

3.1 Overview

Figure 5: Summary of inputs and costs, 2018 to 2023

Figure 5 shows the make-up of all inputs and costs from 2018 to 2023. Inputs and costs represent all money paid out by farmers during a calendar year. The ratios of items which make-up all inputs and costs have been remarkably constant for the last 6 years. The largest cost facing farmers is intermediate consumption^{[footnote 4]}. In 2023 the value of intermediate consumption was £21,086 million, a decrease of £605 million (-2.8%) on 2022. The remaining costs in 2023 were total consumption of fixed capital (£5,140 million), compensation of employees (£3,020 million) and other costs^{[footnote 5]} (£1,194 million).

3.2 Inputs: Intermediate consumption

Intermediate consumption represents items that are used up during the production of farm outputs. The accounts are set up in a way to provide a picture of the agriculture industry in an annual year in terms of money spent and money received by farming businesses. For intermediate consumption, we rely on data from the Farm Business Survey on expenditure. However, this data is only available two years in arrears and so our initial estimate each year is based on information from industry experts, which is then replaced with Farm Business Survey data the following year, resulting in revisions to the intermediate consumption estimates.

Figure 6: Main contributions to intermediate consumption (£ million)^(a)

Item	2022	2023
Animal feed: compounds	5,014	4,772
Other goods and services	3,475	3,603
Total maintenance	2,058	2,197
Animal feed: straights	2,035	1,853
Agricultural services	1,560	1,637
Fertilisers	1,903	1,362
Animal feed: other	1,170	1,195
Motor and machinery fuels	1,249	1,123
Plant protection products	966	1,048
Seeds	916	881
Electricity and fuels for heating	680	790
Veterinary expenses	498	510

Notes:

1 ‘Animal feed: other’ represents feed produced and used on farm or purchased from other farms.

View the full TIFF current prices table

Download the full TIFF current prices dataset

• The largest contribution to intermediate consumption was compound animal feed with a value of £4,772 million, a decrease of £242 million (-4.8%) from 2022. Total compound feed production decreased by 3.6% from 2022 with decreases across cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry. Compound feed production for calves showed a small increase of 1.3%. The pig and poultry sectors have encountered problems over the last few years due to a combination of high feed and energy costs, butchery capacity and disease risks.

• The value of fertiliser in 2023 was £1,362 million, a decrease of £541 million (-28.4%) from 2022. The prices of nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic straight fertilisers all decreased in line with oil prices, by 41.3%, 35.8% and 26.0% respectively. These price decreases encouraged farmers to apply more fertiliser, resulting in a volume increase that slightly off-set the price reductions.

• Overall there was a mixture of increases and decreases across intermediate consumption, with the increases in value largely driven by inflation. The items that decreased in value did so because of their reliance on oil, the price of which fell after the markets stabilised following the initial market shock of the conflict in Ukraine.

3.3 Other Inputs and Costs

Table 2: Breakdown of other inputs and costs (£ million)

Item	2022	2023
Total consumption of fixed capital	5,120	5,140
Equipment consumption of fixed capital	2,417	2,531
Livestock consumption of fixed capital	1,487	1,347
Buildings consumption of fixed capital	1,216	1,262
Other taxes on production	96	96
Compensation of employees	3,022	3,020
Rent	539	587
Interest	455	510

View the full TIFF current prices table

Download the full TIFF current prices dataset

Notes:

1. There has been a revision in the value of Compensation of employees for 2021 and 2022. See Section 6.2: Revisions for details

4. Long Term Trends in TIFF

Values in this section are expressed in real terms^{[footnote 6]} at 2023 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 2023 at 7.1%.

Figure 7: Long term trends in TIFF, 2000 to 2023

Table 3: Headline figures in real terms 2018 to 2023 (£ billion)

Item	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total crop output	11.50	11.95	10.21	12.38	14.23	11.99
Total livestock output	17.56	17.14	17.05	18.58	20.74	19.23
Total intermediate consumption	20.59	20.32	18.94	20.93	23.23	21.09
Total income from farming	5.81	6.08	5.76	7.53	8.59	7.23

View the full TIFF real terms table

Download the full TIFF current prices dataset

• In real terms, UK TIFF rose strongly between 2000 and 2008, then remained around the £5 billion to £7 billion range, with some large year-on-year fluctuations, up to 2014.

• TIFF fell sharply in 2015 driven by lower commodity prices and a stronger pound. In 2016, the exchange rate improved but a poor harvest and continued low commodity prices kept income low. In 2017, TIFF reached the highest point for 20 years as a result of a favourable combination of a weaker pound, strong commodity prices and high levels of production. In 2018, extreme weather conditions led to poor yields and pushed up the price of key inputs. These factors were not fully offset by strong commodity prices resulting in a 14.5% fall in TIFF that year. Favourable weather in 2019 produced modest increases to both crop output and TIFF. In 2020, poor weather during winter sowing resulted in the lowest wheat value, in real terms, since 2006. This was offset by a strong year for livestock and relatively low year for costs, resulting in a modest 5.1% fall in TIFF from 2019.

• 2021 saw more typical weather than 2020 resulting in a large increase in output values, particularly crops, which outweighed increases in inputs and costs. This, combined with inflation of less than 0.1%, led to the sharp increase (30.7%) in TIFF seen between 2020 and 2021. 2022 saw the largest value for TIFF, in real terms, since 1995 and the second highest in the last 40 years. This was driven by good yields across most crops and substantial price increases in wheat, barley, oilseed rape and milk, which more than offset the price increases as a result of high oil prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

• In 2023, TIFF was £7.2 billion, a decrease of £1.4 billion (-15.8%) in real terms from 2022. With supplies which had previously been disrupted able to be exported from Ukraine, it was expected that commodity prices would decrease as the global markets eased. While this was seen and has been one of the factors, the addition of a poor year of weather for cereals meant that the value of production in the UK fell by more than expected leading to the overall decrease seen in TIFF.

5. Balance Sheet for the United Kingdom Agricultural Industry

Table 4: Balance sheet (£ million)

Item	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total fixed assets	286,163	331,267	332,943	373,337
Total current assets	16,328	18,370	19,090	17,965
Total assets	302,491	349,638	352,033	391,301
Total long and medium term liabilities	15,523	16,393	16,628	16,064
Total short term liabilities	5,466	5,924	6,027	5,773
Total liabilities	20,989	22,317	22,655	21,837
Net worth	281,502	327,321	329,378	369,465

Notes:

1. Balance sheet as at December each year

Download the full balance sheet dataset

Table 4 presents the agricultural balance sheet which values the assets and liabilities for agriculture at the end of each calendar year and estimates the net worth of the industry. Overall net worth is estimated to have been £369,465 million in 2023, an increase of £40,087 million (12.2%) on 2022. This was the result of an increase in total assets of 11.2% and a decrease in total liabilities of 3.6%. Land is the largest fixed asset in the agricultural industry with a value of £322,249 million in 2023, an increase of 14.7% on 2022.

Table 5: Balance sheet in real terms (£ million)

Item	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total assets	333,054	384,602	368,796	391,301
Total liabilities	23,109	24,549	23,734	21,837
Net worth	309,945	360,053	345,062	369,465

In real terms at 2023 prices, net worth increased by 7.1% from 2022. Total assets increased by 6.1% and total liabilities decreased by 8.0%.

6. About these statistics

6.1 Contact details

Enquiries: Alexandra Hall +44 (0)20 7714 1374

Email: [email protected]

Media enquiries: 0345 051 8486

Public enquiries: 0845 601 3034

Kings Pool,
1–2 Peasholme Green,
York,
YO1 7PX

6.2 Revisions

Table 6: Revisions in total outputs, costs and TIFF (£ million)

Item	Previous estimate for 2022 (Published May 2023)	Current estimate for 2022 (Published May 2024)	% change (from May 23 to May 24 estimate)
All outputs and subsidies	38,912	38,846	-0.2%
All inputs and costs	30,971	30,827	-0.5%
Total income from farming	7,940	8,019	1.0%

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 minor revision in TIFF in the UK in 2022 of £79 million is as a result of reductions in ‘all outputs and subsidies’ and ‘all inputs and costs’ of 0.2% and 0.5% respectively.

Table 7: Revisions larger than £100 million in outputs (£ million)

Item	Previous estimate for 2022 (Published May 2023)	Current estimate for 2022 (Published May 2024)	% change (from May 23 to May 24 estimate)
Eggs	640	774	20.9%
Other agricultural activities	1,448	1,560	7.8%
Other subsidies on production	3,073	2,920	-5.0%

There is a revision to the 2022 value of eggs due to additional data becoming available for the 2022 price and production time series after the publication of Total Income from Farming 2022.

‘Other agricultural activities’ is an account item that represents the money received by farmers when they fulfil contracts for other farms particularly around harvest time where not every farmer will have a combine. This item is matched on the inputs and costs side of the account by “agricultural services” as that is the amount paid by farmers to other farmers for the services. This means that although there were revisions to both these items, having received survey data, they have not had an impact on TIFF as the value has changed on both sides of the account.

Subsidies not linked to production has been revised for 2022 due to calendar year data becoming available for 2022 onwards. Prior to 2022 the data are based on Q4 to Q3 years.

Table 8: Revisions larger than £100 million in inputs and costs (£ million)

Item	Previous estimate for 2022 (Published May 2023)	Current estimate for 2022 (Published May 2024)	% change (from May 23 to May 24 estimate)
Seeds	748	916	22.5%
Motor and machinery fuels	1,371	1,249	-8.9%
Fertilisers	2,490	1,903	-23.6%
Animal feed: straights	1,926	2,035	5.7%
Agricultural services value	1,448	1,560	7.8%
Compensation of employees	2,828	3,022	6.8%

The revisions in seeds, motor and machinery fuels and fertilisers are a result of the replacement of industry estimates with survey data, as explained in the intermediate consumption section. Because of the difference between usage and purchase practices when prices are volatile it is particularly difficult to estimate what is being spent by farm businesses in a year.

The value of straight animal feed was also revised due to more data becoming available after the publication of Total Income from Farming in 2022.

Following a review of the methodology in calculating the wage data for compensation of employees, the values for compensation of employees have been revised for 2021 and 2022.

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.

6.3 Accredited official statistics status

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. An explanation can be found on the Office for Statistics Regulation website.

These statistics were independently reviewed by the UK Statistics Authority (now the Office for Statistics Regulation) in 2014 (see Assessment Report 271: Statistics on Agriculture). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

The continued designation of these statistics as accredited official 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 Office for Statistics Regulation 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. A summary quality report for this statistical release can be found on the GOV.UK website for Aggregate agricultural accounts.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards (see contact details above). Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing [email protected] or via the OSR website.

6.4 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 components of the accounts with internal experts.
• Discussion of components of the accounts with external experts.

6.5 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.

6.6 Main users and uses of the aggregate agricultural accounts

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.

6.7 Related publications

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 England.

• Total Income from Farming in the regions of England.

• Farm Business Survey: Farm business income.

1. Gross Value Added (GVA) is computed as Gross output minus intermediate consumption and represents that contribution of a business, sector or industry to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ↩

2. Basic price is the market price plus directly paid subsidies that are linked to the production of specific products. ↩

3. Current price is the value based on prices observed during the reference year (i.e. values not adjusted for inflation). The alternative to current price is ‘real terms’. ↩

4. Intermediate consumption is the goods and services used as inputs in the productive process, e.g. feed, energy and fertilisers. ↩

5. Other costs includes other taxes on production, rent and interest paid. ↩

6. Real terms is where values from previous years have been adjusted for inflation. The alternative to real terms is ‘current price’. ↩