Scottish Government

STRUCTURE OF THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY IN SCOTLAND

LAND

The total area of agricultural land in Scotland , including common grazings is 6.2 million hectares. This represents about 80 per cent of the total land area of Scotland (7.8 million ha).

The map of Scotland by farm type reflects the fact that the agricultural land in Scotland is mainly only suitable for livestock farming with 5.3 million hectares used for this purpose. Around 0.6 million hectares mainly in the east of Scotland is farmed for the production of crops and the remaining agricultural land is used for farm woodlands, roads, yards and buildings.

The links listed below provide more detailed agricultural land use statistics. To return to this page use the BACK button on your browser.

• Commentary on agricultural land use , June 2011
• Table : Number of holdings with crops and grass by agricultural region , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings with crops and grass by area size group , 2010
• Table : Crops, grass and rough grazings on holdings for each UK country , 2010
• Chart : Agricultural land use by UK country, 2010
• Table : Agricultural area by Less Favoured Area category , 2010
• Map : Less Favoured Areas and Non-Less Favoured Areas , 2010

FARM SIZE

In addition to the more common use of hectares as a measure of farm size the Scottish Government provide statistics by Standard Gross Margins (SGM) , European Size Units (ESU) and the Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) based on the level of agricultural activity on holdings in Scotland.

CHART : STANDARD LABOUR REQUIREMENTS ⁽¹⁾ BY FARM TYPE, JUNE 2010

⁽¹⁾ 1 Standard Labour Requirement is equal to 1900 hours of labour per year.

The links listed below provide more detailed farm structure statistics. To return to this page use the BACK button on your browser.

• Commentary on the farm size and farm type of holdings in Scotland , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings by Standard Gross Margins ( SGM), Standard Labour Requirements (SLR) and region , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings and Standard Gross Margins (SGM) by farm type 2000, 2005 and 2010
• Table : Number of holdings by European Size Unit (ESU) by agricultural region , 2010

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Farms are classified into groups according to type to allow analysis of the sector. Farm type classifications are based on the relative importance of the various crop and livestock enterprises on each farm assessed in terms of standard gross margin (an economic measure of output less variable costs).

CHART : AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS BY FARM TYPE, JUNE 2010

The charts, tables and maps listed below provide links to more detailed farm type statistics. To return to this page use the BACK button on your browser.

• Table : Number of holdings by region and farm type , 2010
• Map : Distribution of farm types , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings by agricultural area and main farm type , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings by Standard Gross Margin and farm type , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings by European Size Unit and farm type , 2010
• Table : Number of holdings by Standard Labour Requirements and farm type , 2010

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The links listed below provide statistics on machinery on farms in Scotland. To return to this page use the BACK button on your browser.

• Table : Number of tractors on holdings at December 2009
• Table : Number of cultivation , sowing and harvesting machinery items on main holdings at December 2005, 2007 and 2009
• Table : Number of cultivation, sowing and harvesting machinery items on main holdings, December 2004, 2006 and 2008
• Table : Number of load handling machinery items, transport vehicles, road handling and other machinery items on main holdings at December 2005, 2007 and 2009
• Table : Number of load handling machinery items, transport vehicles and miscellaneous machinery items on main holdings, December 2004, 2006 and 2008

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture (including geographic and time series summaries)
• Agricultural census results
• Farm incomes, subsidies and borrowing statistics

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