Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: Module June 2023

This report provides final results from the 2023 June Agricultural Census module covering: soil cover, tillage, irrigation, nutrient management, and fertiliser application and storage. 


Most land undergoes inversion tillage

Intensive tillage systems leave low levels of crop residue cover, whereas reduced tillage methods leave more residue cover. These residues reduce the amount of soil erosion, soil compaction and fuel consumption. Reduced tillage and no-till systems also help increase levels of soil organic carbon and may result in lower direct carbon emissions from the soil.  

Respondents regularly use more than one tillage method on their holdings. Almost 90% of holdings use inversion tillage while 23% use reduced tillage methods (a holding could report more than one type of tillage method).

Figure 2: Percentage of holdings by tillage type (holding could report more than one type of tillage method so figures sum to more than 100%)

Back to top