Closure of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing businesses: FOI release

Information requested

How many farming businesses have closed in Scotland in the last 10 years (please can you break that up by year and region).

Response

The preferred source for data on business deaths is the annual Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Demography series, the latest edition is available at: Business demography, UK - Office for National Statistics. Business deaths are a proxy for the number of businesses closed down. Business deaths are measured as businesses removed from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), which is a database of all businesses registered for Value-Added-Tax (VAT) and/or Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) income tax. A business is removed from the IDBR if its turnover and employment are zero for several periods, or if the ONS is notified that the business has ceased trading through an administrative or survey source.

Note that the annual publication does not include data for the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector. However, business deaths for the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector are included as part of the quarterly ONS Business Demography series which runs from 2017 – these data for Scotland are provided in Table 1 below. We don’t have access to disaggregated data for Agriculture (or farms) specifically or for regions within Scotland.

It is important to note that the quarterly ONS Business Demography series is classed as official statistics in development. Official statistics in development are official statistics that are in the testing phase and are not yet fully developed, and will potentially have a wider degree of uncertainty. In particular, the last four quarters of the ONS series are provisional and are subject to future revision. Revisions can arise due to business reactivations as later information on business turnover or employment is received.

Table 1: Business Deaths – Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing – Scotland

Quarter	Business Deaths
Q1 2017	185
Q2 2017	180
Q3 2017	155
Q4 2017	125
Q1 2018	180
Q2 2018	190
Q3 2018	130
Q4 2018	180
Q1 2019	140
Q2 2019	270
Q3 2019	195
Q4 2019	170
Q1 2020	200
Q2 2020	200
Q3 2020	155
Q4 2020	175
Q1 2021	170
Q2 2021	195
Q3 2021	185
Q4 2021	190
Q1 2022	235
Q2 2022	280
Q3 2022	205
Q4 2022	210
Q1 2023	230
Q2 2023	225
Q3 2023	220
Q4 2023	160
Q1 2024	185
Q2 2024	195
Q3 2024	175
Q4 2024*	225
Q1 2025*	205
Q2 2025*	270
Q3 2025*	215

Source: Business Demography quarterly, Office for National Statistics Notes:

1. These are official statistics in development.
2. *Quarters Q4 2024 to Q3 2025 are provisional and are subject to future revision.
3. Data are rounded to the nearest five.
4. Q1 is January to March, Q2 is April to June, Q3 is July to September and Q4 is October to December.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.