Total income from farming (TIFF) methodology

TIFF statistics are compiled annually by the Scottish Government’s Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services (RESAS).

TIFF is the profit generated by production within the agriculture industry including direct payments and represents business profits and remuneration for work done by owners and other unpaid workers. It is the preferred measure of aggregate income for the agricultural industry in the UK and is designed to show the performance of the whole of the agricultural industry.

TIFF statistics contribute to the Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA) and methodology is based on the harmonised methodological approach for compiling agricultural accounts across Europe. Methods and terminology used in the EAA are available in the Manual on the economic accounts for agriculture and forestry EAA/EA 97 (PDF) - Products Manuals and Guidelines - Eurostat The UK, when compiling agricultural accounts, including the calculation of Total Income from Farming, follows the EAA but differs in some respects, principally the inclusion of Gross Fixed Capital Formation of livestock in the value of total livestock production.

The main method applied to estimate economic accounts for agriculture is the ‘quantity x price' formula when measuring the output of the large majority of products.

The total quantity of crops can mostly be estimated based on area and yield results, and surveys of slaughter and other production provide good quality data on output of animals.

Many inputs or intermediate goods (for example seed and planting stock, fertilisers) are based on survey data and averages are raised to national level.

There are about 40 different data sources that are used in compiling the TIFF statistics, including;

• The annual June Agriculture Census run by the Scottish Government (SG), which itself also includes administrative data from Basic Payments applications and Scottish Electronic Identification (EID) Livestock Traceability data (ScotEID, previously Cattle Tracing Scheme (CTS), and RADAR).
• Farm Business Survey run by the SG.
• Prices and volumes data sourced from specific market reports from the appropriate industries.
• Prices and volumes data sourced from bespoke surveys, including those run by the SG and additional separate surveys run by industry bodies such as the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

​​​​​​​Detailed methodology information is provided in the annexes to this report.