Scottish farm business income: annual estimates 2016-2017

Methodology Note

Estimates of average farm income in Scotland come from the Farm Business Survey (FBS, previously known as the Farm Accounts Survey (FAS)) for Scotland, which is based on a sample of approximately 500 farms. The FBS sample is stratified by farm type and size. The 2016-17 data has been calculated using 2010 Standard Output (SO) coefficients.

The survey does not currently include farms predominantly engaged in horticulture, poultry or pig production, which are sectors that exist without subsidy payments. The coverage of the survey is restricted to those farms which have considerable economic activity (at least 25,000 Euros of output, equivalent to £21,315) and are not considered as part-time farms (have a Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) of more than 0.5). Therefore, some survey findings may not necessarily be representative of the whole of the agriculture industry.
Time series in this report are presented in 2016-17 prices, unless stated otherwise. In line with methodologies throughout the UK and standard methodologies within the European Commission (EC) this is now done using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) GDP deflator (implicit price deflator for gross domestic product).

More details on the methodology, quality of the FBS and results are available online in the methodology and quality note. More detailed data tables are also available online, from the Agriculture Statistics website.