Scottish Agricultural Census - provisional results: June 2020

The majority of working occupiers (occupier and spouse) are older than 55

Agricultural workforce: 66,800

The total agricultural workforce is estimated to be around 66,800 workers. Although this estimate may not include some family members who also provide some labour.

The majority of the workforce are owner-occupiers, made up of people who own or rent the farm and work on it. Of all working occupiers (occupier and spouse), 61 per cent are male and 39 per cent are female.

Working occupiers are getting increasingly older. In June 2020, only nine per cent of the total working occupiers were under 41. Male occupiers are older than female occupiers. Where 37 per cent of male farm occupiers were older than 64, this was true for only 30 per cent of female farm occupiers.