Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2025
Final results from the 2025 June Agricultural Census on land use, crop areas, livestock and the number of people working on agricultural holdings.
Module results on irrigation methods are also included within this publication.
First published: 30 October 2025.
Small increase in total cereals as oilseeds fall
In 2025, the total area used to grow cereals and oilseeds was 473,700 hectares, an increase of 0.5% compared with the five-year average (471,400 hectares).
The area sown with wheat, barley and oats totalled 433,000 hectares in 2025, a 1.0% increase compared with the five-year average (428,800 hectares).
Cereals are closely linked to the whisky industry. Both barley and wheat, the two largest crops by land area, are used to make whisky. Of the total area used to grow cereals and oilseeds in 2025, 62% was used for barley and 23% for wheat. This was similar to the five-year average (63% and 22% respectively).
The area used to grow oats decreased by 2.0% compared with the five-year average, while oilseeds saw a larger decrease of 8.0%. Other crops, such as rye and triticale, account for a small proportion of the total crop area, amounting to 7,900 hectares in 2025.
Figure 3: Area of cereals and oilseeds, 2015 to 2025. Note some data for 2022 were estimated based on administrative data and results in adjacent years.
Contact
email - agric.stats@gov.scot