Scottish Survey of Farm Structure and Methods, 2016

2. Introduction

The 2016 EU Farm Structure and Methods Survey recorded details of farming practices and labour across Scotland. Many of these questions were asked as part of the Farm Structure Surveys in 2013. Comparisons of results for 2013 are made where available, though in some cases questions have changed slightly and so will not be directly comparable.

The data will be used to inform the development of EU and national policies on agriculture and the environment.

The 2016 survey was undertaken on a sample of around 15,100 holdings, drawn from the 32,300 holdings within the remit of the Farm Structure Survey. Returns were received from 9,900 holdings.

Since the Farm Structure Survey covered mainly larger holdings, the results published here refer to these larger holdings only, and not of the entire population of agricultural holdings included in the June Agricultural Census. These holdings however accounted for 96 per cent of agricultural land in 2016, so are largely representative of agricultural land use and livestock management in Scotland. More information on how the figures were produced can be found in the methodology section 5.3, and a table showing the thresholds for inclusion in the survey is given as an Annex in section 7.

We welcome comments on the content or format of this publication to:

email: Jaye.Ware@gov.scot

Tel: 0300 244 9707