Most of Scotland's land area is used for agriculture

Figure 1 shows a map of the main farming types across Scotland. Large areas of Scotland have hilly or rocky terrain, which is suitable for livestock but offers limited growing conditions. These areas are shown in light green on the map. The areas in black have better soil and can typically support crops grown for animal feed. Dark green areas represent land suitable for growing vegetables, fruit, and cereals for human consumption.

In 2026, Scotland’s total sole right agricultural area was 5.16 million hectares, accounting for 66% of the total land area. However, large areas of agricultural land are only lightly farmed. For example, hilly or mountainous areas are mostly used for rough grazing. The total agricultural area figure excludes common grazing land.

Figure 1: Map of Scotland showing main farming types in each area