Total income from farming reaches new high

Total income from farming is the official measure of the profit (output minus costs) gained by the agricultural industry in Scotland.

Estimates are in current (nominal) and real (constant 2025) prices. Real (constant 2025) prices use the latest gross domestic product GDP deflators.

At the time of publication, not all data are available for 2025. Estimates are subject to a degree of revision in future years as more data becomes available. More information is available under Revisions to previous estimates.

Initial estimates of total income from farming in 2025 predict the highest on record figures of around £1.5 billion, an increase of £0.3 billion (28%) compared to 2024. In real terms, adjusted for inflation, this is a 24% increase.

Increases in output value outpace a small overall cost increase in 2025 and drives this higher profit margin.

Continuing high prices and increasing prices for cattle, milk and potatoes drive gross output to increase by 8% to around £5.1 billion in 2025. Meanwhile total costs increase by 1% to £4.1 billion.

In 2025, total income from farming rose for a second year from its 5-year low in 2023.

In 2024 total income from farming began to recover and is estimated at around £1.1 billion (£1.2 billion in real terms). Continuing high prices supported stable gross output and a decrease in total costs drove an increased profit margin.

In 2023, total income was at a 5-year low of around £783 million (£844 million in real terms). Total income fell as many market prices dropped and costs continued to increase. Average farmgate milk prices and cereal prices dropped from exceptional highs. But these and many other prices remained strong, and gross output remained relatively high. Profit margins were more strongly impacted by increasing costs, especially in labour, fertiliser and interest payments.

Across 2020 to 2022, high prices, particularly milk, cereal and red meat, drove increasingly high profit margins, despite increasing costs.

While total income fluctuates year to year it is generally increasing over time. Figure 1 shows total income from farming in Scotland over the last 20 years.

In real terms, total income from farming in 2025 is 33% above the previous 10-year average (2015 to 2024). Compared to the average over the previous 10 years, the value of farming output in 2025 is 13% higher, outpacing 2% higher total input costs.

Figure 1: Total income from farming estimates for Scotland, 2005 to 2025. Current (nominal) and real (constant 2025) prices.

Table 1: Total income from farming (TIFF) and contributions to TIFF, 2024 and 2025, current (nominal) prices and percentage change (current and real terms).