The Scottish Government

STRUCTURE OF THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY IN SCOTLAND

This page provides information on how the agricultural land on Scotland's 51,000 farms is used , the varying sizes and types of farm and the machinery on farms in Scotland.

LAND | FARM SIZE | FARM TYPE | MACHINERY

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 (7.8million 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 5.3million 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.

• Number of holdings with crops and grass by area and region
• Charts of agricultural land use in Scotland over last ten years
• Charts of agricultural land use by country, UK
• Number of owned/mainly owned holdings by region and owned area
• Agricultural area on holdings by Less Favoured Area category and Highlands and Islands Enterprise Area
• Crops, grass and rough grazings on holdings for each UK country
• Map of Highlands and Islands Enterprise Area
• Map of Less Favoured Areas and Non-Less Favoured Areas

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 2007

⁽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.

• Number of holdings by Standard Gross Margin ( SGM) and region
• Number of holdings by European Size Unit (ESU) and region
• Number of holdings by European Size Unit ( ESU) and farm type
• Number of holdings by Standard Labour Requirements ( SLR) and farm type

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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 2007

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.

• Map of Scotland by farm type
• Number of holdings by agricultural area and main farm type
• Number of holdings by Standard Gross Margin and farm type
• Number of holdings by region and main farm type
• Number and area of holdings by main farm type
• Number of holdings by European Size Unit and farm type
• Number of holdings by Standard Labour Requirements and farm type

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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.

• Number of cultivation , sowing and harvesting machinery items on main holdings at December
• Number of tractors on holdings at December
• Number of transport vehicles, road handling and other machinery items on main holdings at December
• Number of cultivation, sowing and harvesting machinery items on main holdings, December 2002, 2004 and 2006
• Number of load handling machinery items, transport vehicles and miscellaneous machinery items on main holdings, December 2002, 2004 and 2006

FURTHER INFORMATION

More agricultural statistics and information including the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture, geographic and time series summaries of agricultural census results and details of farm incomes, subsidies and production are available from our agricultural statistics publications. To return to this page use the BACK button on your browser.

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