Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture 2015

3.10 Off-farm income (Table B10)

Farm owners often supplement their income from agricultural activities with income from other sources. Off-farm income refers to these additional sources of income for farm owners and their spouses.

Overall, in 2013-14, 55 per cent of off‑farm income came from employment or self-employment, with the remaining 45 per cent coming from investments and pensions.

Chart 3.15 shows the percentage of total income (agricultural income and off-farm income combined) that comes from agricultural activities (including diversified activities and grants and subsidies) and from off-farm income sources (such as employment and investments).

In 2010-11 and 2011-12 the percentage of total income per FTE (FBI/FTE plus off-farm income/FTE) provided by agricultural activities was relatively unchanged at around 84 per cent. In 2012-13 and 2013-14 this fell to 76 per cent. Accounting for inflation, both sources of income have decreased on average compared to 2009-10, FBI/FTE by around 30 per cent and OFI/FTE by around seven per cent.

Chart 3.15: Contribution of farming and off-farm income to overall income, 2009-10 to 2013-14