Scottish farm business income: annual estimates 2016-2017

This publication provides estimates of average farm business incomes for the accounting year 2016-17, which relates to the 2016 crop year. For the most recent data, visit the Scottish farm business income (FBI) collection page below.


Table 6: Farm Business Income, outputs and inputs performance bands by quartile: 2016-17

Type of farm Specialist Sheep (LFA) Specialist Cattle (LFA) Cattle and sheep (LFA) Cereals General Cropping Dairy Lowland Cattle and Sheep Mixed All Farm Types
Performance band Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25% Lower 25% Average Upper 25%
Number of farms in sample 12 48 12 31 124 31 16 62 16 15 58 15 14 53 14 11 44 11 8 29 8 18 72 18 123 490 123
Average size of business (SLR) 3 3 8 3 3 4 4 4 8 2 2 2 3 3 4 6 6 9 2 3 6 3 3 4 3 3 6
Average size of farm (hectares) 598 754 2,508 163 185 223 338 427 790 161 164 194 163 178 201 150 157 216 86 129 282 223 182 191 249 306 650
Area of cereals (hectares) 1 1 0 13 10 14 9 4 8 106 110 126 96 99 118 6 8 13 9 19 21 63 76 113 34 34 42
Area of potatoes (hectares) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 13 18 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 2 2 3
Area of oilseed rape (hectares) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 13 26 5 5 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 2 2 3
Area of other crops (hectares) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 8 4 7 7 4 1 0 0 0 0 4 3 3 1 2 2
Area of fodder 0 0 1 5 4 3 1 2 4 8 8 10 8 8 7 5 6 7 1 4 10 10 9 14 5 4 6
Area of grass 80 85 156 102 112 148 83 130 249 24 23 17 31 35 28 116 132 188 71 95 216 84 71 51 78 87 150
Number of ewes 577 602 1,381 114 149 156 514 612 1,085 12 22 32 0 8 10 34 13 0 230 184 414 145 99 64 230 243 508
Number of suckler cows 3 9 38 72 80 110 55 60 104 4 4 6 10 10 9 4 1 0 42 48 141 38 40 32 35 38 72
Number of dairy cows 0 0 0 5 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 176 184 269 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 13 16
Output yield per dairy cow (ltrs) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,055 7,053 7,551 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Revenue value pence per litre 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 22 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Number of other cattle 3 11 52 130 137 196 71 79 155 35 19 20 31 31 23 191 217 340 97 148 272 75 120 258 76 89 153
Headcount of unpaid workers 2.1 2.0 3.1 1.7 2.0 1.5 1.6 2.0 2.6 1.7 1.8 2.4 1.7 1.9 2.2 2.4 2.5 3.1 2.4 2.1 2.5 1.9 2.0 2.2 1.9 2.0 2.3
Number of unpaid workers (FTE) 1.3 1.3 2.1 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.6 2.1 1.2 1.4 1.7 1.1 1.4 2.0 1.9 2.2 2.5 1.6 1.6 2.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.3 1.5 1.8
Average output £ per farm  
Total crop output 1,169 1,369 2,526 9,152 8,498 12,816 5,485 2,488 6,111 112,438 125,237 184,193 119,288 189,922 322,020 8,122 10,733 19,653 8,885 16,359 20,325 68,188 77,957 104,542 37,549 46,114 65,549
Total livestock output 25,010 39,791 123,481 81,784 104,965 167,213 84,799 102,100 211,932 23,437 14,819 13,081 14,107 15,134 13,121 303,120 364,714 603,936 59,073 102,122 217,060 57,695 87,626 226,243 68,881 88,387 174,417
Miscellaneous output 5,127 4,212 4,376 6,936 8,166 6,876 13,271 10,839 18,974 18,289 21,765 51,749 16,273 31,024 198,911 4,000 7,900 14,671 11,104 11,844 11,594 11,086 16,484 20,755 10,607 12,738 24,742
Total average output 31,306 45,371 130,383 97,871 121,629 186,905 103,555 115,427 237,017 154,164 161,821 249,023 149,667 236,081 534,052 315,243 383,347 638,259 79,062 130,325 248,979 136,969 182,067 351,540 117,038 147,239 264,707
Subsidy and Payments 31,912 38,965 94,309 43,983 46,678 67,871 42,193 54,925 99,830 31,173 31,978 37,979 33,001 36,102 32,014 31,481 35,294 48,995 24,514 34,325 77,283 42,577 40,522 46,931 37,532 41,307 72,241
Average inputs - £ per farm  
Crop expenses 854 3,586 9,756 16,737 15,813 16,531 11,037 10,709 22,559 55,362 54,965 71,428 51,442 66,407 107,130 23,488 25,342 37,217 11,832 18,741 34,821 40,731 39,820 54,458 24,838 25,755 36,593
Livestock expenses 21,324 21,681 55,789 43,799 45,503 50,750 48,984 46,634 84,320 17,344 8,490 5,815 6,745 6,217 4,961 184,564 173,566 243,980 36,476 52,213 92,252 25,803 40,341 131,842 40,035 41,345 69,433
Other fixed costs 58,080 48,354 89,783 92,097 83,382 88,053 82,675 79,375 142,397 143,084 120,633 160,407 133,288 156,443 309,747 193,089 187,201 261,333 65,027 77,378 134,944 132,477 122,295 139,535 106,311 98,480 141,907
Total average inputs 83,881 73,621 155,327 152,633 144,697 155,334 142,696 136,718 249,276 215,790 184,087 237,650 191,474 229,067 421,838 401,142 386,109 542,530 113,335 148,332 262,016 199,010 202,456 325,835 171,184 165,579 247,933
Diversification Margin 6,784 3,332 4,164 -241 1,955 1,566 -480 1,650 3,085 5,772 10,878 28,766 -541 3,964 3,665 -1,717 2,164 4,156 -94 1,934 -252 2,411 4,034 1,564 1,512 3,436 5,361
of which: Diversification Output 8,405 5,132 8,488 3,542 4,457 3,332 2,233 5,354 11,503 9,249 18,906 44,814 2,857 7,948 6,588 6,900 8,107 9,987 1,134 4,671 3,235 11,007 8,464 5,526 5,278 7,040 10,829
Diversification Input 1,622 1,800 4,324 3,783 2,502 1,765 2,713 3,704 8,418 3,477 8,028 16,048 3,398 3,984 2,923 8,616 5,942 5,831 1,227 2,738 3,486 8,596 4,430 3,962 3,766 3,604 5,468
Farm Business Income (FBI) -13,880 14,048 73,529 -11,020 25,565 101,008 2,572 35,284 90,656 -24,680 20,589 78,118 -9,347 47,080 147,893 -56,134 34,696 148,880 -9,853 18,252 63,993 -17,053 24,168 74,200 -15,102 26,402 94,376
FBI per unpaid worker (FTE) -10,515 10,483 35,181 -9,107 17,753 73,194 2,025 22,764 44,008 -21,461 14,812 47,344 -8,497 34,116 74,318 -29,085 16,138 60,275 -6,357 11,626 32,157 -11,073 16,220 49,799 -11,441 17,839 53,020
Output:Input ratio (including subsidies) 0.83 1.19 1.47 0.93 1.18 1.65 1.02 1.26 1.36 0.89 1.11 1.33 0.95 1.21 1.35 0.86 1.09 1.27 0.91 1.12 1.24 0.91 1.12 1.23 0.91 1.16 1.38
Output:Input ratio (excluding subsidies) 0.45 0.66 0.87 0.64 0.85 1.21 0.72 0.86 0.96 0.74 0.94 1.17 0.78 1.05 1.27 0.78 1.00 1.18 0.70 0.89 0.95 0.70 0.92 1.08 0.69 0.91 1.09
Off farm income (OFI) 21,552 16,237 8,182 11,612 14,080 15,124 7,465 9,155 12,500 13,132 12,242 10,325 19,764 17,789 9,307 4,983 8,191 13,182 22,032 13,001 7,188 26,926 19,109 17,003 15,642 14,305 12,548
OFI per unpaid worker (FTE) 16,328 12,117 3,915 9,597 9,778 10,960 5,878 5,907 6,068 11,419 8,807 6,257 17,967 12,891 4,677 2,582 3,810 5,337 14,214 8,281 3,612 17,484 12,825 11,412 11,850 9,665 7,050

Full-Time equivalent (FTE) is 1,900 hours.
Off farm Income is only collected for farmers and their spouse as the midpoint of the range in which their income falls.

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