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Publication - Statistics

Scottish agriculture greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen use: 2023-24

Published
10 June 2025
Directorate
Environment and Forestry Directorate, +1 more … Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate
Topic
Environment and climate change, Farming and rural

Greenhouse gas emission estimates for the Scottish agriculture sector, agricultural subsectors and for average Scottish farms by farm type and enterprise. Nitrogen use estimates for average Scottish farms by farm type.

An official statistics in development publication for Scotland

Full publication and data

The full statistical publication with supporting data tables is available at data.gov.scot.

This is part of the collection Scottish agriculture greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen use.

About these statistics

This report is based on estimates of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Scottish agriculture, as reported in the Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics 2023 and average emission and nitrogen use estimates from the Farm Business Survey (FBS). The report includes:

  • Results for total Scottish agriculture GHG emissions split by agricultural subsector (e.g. suckler beef, arable, dairy etc). These subsectors align more closely with agricultural activity and provide a different breakdown to the categories used in the Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics.

  • Average whole farm emissions of different farm types (e.g. lowland cattle and sheep, general cropping, LFA (less favoured area) sheep etc). Farms are assigned to a farm type based on their primary output. The results also show the variation in emissions within each farm type. This is based on FBS data and is weighted to cover commercial sized farms in Scotland.

  • Average emission intensity of specific agricultural outputs of different farm types. For example, estimates for the average emission intensity of a kg deadweight (dwt) of beef in an LFA cattle farm, a lowland cattle and sheep farm and an LFA cattle and sheep farm. Agricultural outputs are the products of farm enterprises – agricultural activities within a farm business. Estimates are not weighted because they are based on a sub-sample of data.

  • Average farm level nitrogen use across different farm types. Estimates are weighted using the same methodology described above.

About the data sources

Results for the agriculture sector, along with national greenhouse gas emissions, were released in the Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics 2023  publication. The report includes subsector analysis based on methodology developed by SRUC. Subsector analysis allocates total Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics emissions from agriculture to subsectors that align more closely with agricultural enterprises.

Farm level results are calculated from the 2023-24 Farm Business Survey, which covered the 2023 cropping year and the 2023-24 financial year. The Farm Business Survey is an annual survey of approximately 400 commercial farms with economic activity of at least approximately £20,000. Farms which do not receive support payments, such as pigs, poultry and horticulture, are not included in the survey. On-farm emissions are estimated using a life cycle assessment (LCA) based carbon calculator (Agrecalc). Enterprise estimates are not weighted to the 2023 June Agricultural Census and represent sample averages of farms in Farm Business Survey. Nitrogen estimates are based on standard estimates of nitrogen content in all farm inputs and outputs where possible.

More information is available at: Methodology (data.gov.scot)

The data are designated as official statistics in development. They are being released to involve users in our assessment of the suitability and quality of the data.

Official statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

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