Data and methodology

Data source

Estimates of average farm business income in Scotland come from the Scottish Farm Business Survey. This is an annual survey of around 400 commercial-sized farms. Farms which are part-time, or with economic activity below approximately £20,000 are not included. Farms that do not receive support, such as pigs, poultry, and horticulture, are not included in the survey.

Data from the June Agricultural Census is used to weight the farm business income estimates. The FBS is representative of around 10,200 farms in Scotland, which in 2024-25 is around 22% of all farms included in the 2024 June Agricultural Census. These farms cover 68% of Scotland's agricultural land, account for 47% of the Scottish farming labour force, and produce 76% of total standard output. The survey is designed for coverage of commercial sized farms, and represents 94% of standard output from these farm types.

How to access background or source data

The data collected for this publication are available through supporting documents.

Methodology

More detailed methodology information is available in the Scottish farm business incomes: Methodology document.

Methodology changes and corrections

Estimates for 2023-24 and 2024-25 are affected by Basis Period Reform (BPR) and changes in sample coverage and data processing.

Under BPR, the accounting year of farm businesses is aligning with the financial year. As a farm transitions, its previous year closing valuation is re-estimated to align with the financial year. New estimates are based on the previous valuation and available data.

This report provides a correction to 2023-24 estimates for general cropping and average farm or “all farms” results. The correction includes data on potato outputs missed in the 2023-24 publication. A notice on the 2023-24 publication directs users to corrected results. The error occured due to BPR method changes in estimation of closing valuations.

In recent years, the survey has improved its coverage of smaller livestock farms to better represent the population. Where smaller farms have joined the sample, particularly when they replace larger farms that have left, there may be a greater impact on survey results. Because farm incomes naturally fluctuate from year to year, it can be challenging to isolate the effect of changes in the sample on the reported results. Where changes in income may be influenced by shifts in sample representation, these are reported alongside the official statistics.

Upgrades to analytical processes are being made to improve the quality and accessibility of outputs. New methods correct previous inconsistencies in weighting. Corrections to the weighting had a negligible impact for all farm types, compared to the margin of uncertainty around survey results.

Final 2023-24 estimates for lowland cattle and sheep farms were affected by improved sample coverage and corrections to weighting.

When new farms join the survey, they can provide a back year of data. For example, farms entering in 2024-25 may also supply data for 2023-24 data. Final data also includes any late returns from existing participants. These additions usually have a very small impact on survey results for a given time period, compared to the size of uncertainty around the year on year change. However recruitment of more small farms in 2023-24 and 2024-25 led to larger changes between initial and final estimates. As a result, final lowland cattle and sheep farm business income estimates for 2023-24 were about 30% (£1,300) lower than initial figures, with the updated weighting increasing the difference to around 45% (£1,900). lower than initial estimates with the updated weighting increasing the difference to 46% (£1,900). These differences are still small compared with the overall uncertainty in the 2023‑24 results.

Detailed information is available in the Scottish farm business incomes: Methodology document.

Related statistics

Similar surveys take place in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Full results for the United Kingdom are available online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/agriculture-in-the-united-kingdom

Similar data is collected by the European Union through the European Commission Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN):

European Commission | Agri-food data portal | Farm economics (europa.eu)