Key points

• Farm incomes experienced a sharp decline in 2023-24, after record highs in 2022-23. This downturn is attributed to three main factors. First, some agricultural output prices saw a large drop. This reversed the exceptionally high levels in the previous year. This was compounded by declines in output levels, with adverse weather conditions playing a role in diminishing production. Finally, while some input costs showed a modest decrease, costs did not fall at the same pace as output prices, putting additional pressure on profit margins.
• Average farm business income, a measure of farm profit after costs, fell for all farm types in 2023-24. Income is estimated at £35,500 in 2023-24, a fall of 51%, its lowest level since 2019-20, after adjusting for inflation.
• Cereal farm income fell by 63% to £38,900 on average. Average income for general cropping farms fell by 54% to £83,300. Falls in outputs by both farm types were driven by cereal market prices dropping to pre-2022 levels, and reduced yields. Both farm types are sensitive to market prices.
• Average dairy farm income is estimated at £116,300, a drop of 56%. Dairy income is volatile and is closely linked to milk prices. Milk prices dropped in 2023-24 from exceptionally high prices seen in 2022-23. Dairy incomes remain above the ten- year average.
• Lowland cattle and sheep farm income fell by 87% to £2,600. This is the largest drop in income across livestock farm types, largely driven by falls in livestock output. The average income of Less Favoured Area (LFA) livestock farms decreased by 32% to £17,400.
• There is a mixed picture for input costs in 2023-24 with input costs decreasing for some farm types and increasing for others. Increases in costs for fertiliser were often offset by decreases in feed and fodder, land and property costs. Across most farm types, regular labour costs fell. In some cases, this was offset by increases in casual labour costs. Average costs for both regular and casual labour have increased over the last decade.
• Average incomes of dairy, arable and mixed farms remain the highest across all farm types. However, a larger proportion of farms within these farm types were unprofitable compared to the previous year. In 2023-24, 31% of cereal and dairy farms were loss-making, up from 2% and 4% respectively in the previous year. The proportion of unprofitable lowland cattle and sheep farms increased from 20% to 68%.  
• Fewer farms made any profit without including support payments in 2023-24. For LFA sheep farms, no farms in the survey made a profit without support payments, down from 8% of farms in the previous year.

Our infographic provides an overview of farm incomes in 2023-24.

All data tables are available to download under supporting documents.