Glossary

Agricultural holdings: land and buildings used for horticulture, livestock, grazing, and various other uses. 

Area in sole occupation: area of land for where there are sole occupiers of the land they farm, whether as owner-occupiers or tenants.

Barley: spring and winter barley are sown in Scotland. Most of the barley in Scotland is the spring variety. Spring barley is sown around March. Winter barley is sown in the autumn.

Breeding herd: animals aged two years or older that have calved at least once, though not necessarily in the reporting year.

Gilt: a female pig that has not yet had a litter of piglets.

Hectares (ha): the land measurement used in agriculture. One hectare, or 10,000 square meters, is roughly the full size of a rugby pitch. 

Human consumption: vegetable crops for consumption by humans.

Legal responsibility: the person(s) or institution with the power of the decision-making, regarding the normal daily financial and production routines of the business. 

Liveweight pigs: the length and girth of a pig is used to calculate the liveweight of a pig.

Oats: majority of oats grown in Scotland are sown in the spring.

Peatland: the June Agricultural Census 2026 peatland module questions considered peat of any depth and surface cover. Degraded peatland was drained and a lower water table; may or may not have areas of bare peat.

Person working days: the number of workers multiplied by number of days they have worked. This provides an estimate of the number of working days workers have contributed to agricultural tasks.  

Seed potatoes: specifically grown for planting for potato cultivation.

Sow: an adult female pig that has had one or more litters of piglets.

Stockfeed: food or fodder for livestock.     

Total mixed ration: a feeding method for cattle in which all feed ingredients are mixed into a uniform ration formulated to meet their nutritional requirements.

Ware potatoes: grown primarily for human consumption.

Wheat: Scottish wheat is mainly winter sown soft wheats suitable for milling. The Scottish climate does not suit hard wheat varieties.