Farm Practices

Provides information on how farm practices are affected by environmental issues and to assess the impact of agriculture on the environment.
Source agency: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Designation: National Statistics
Language: English
Alternative title: Farm Practices

Farm Practices Survey October 2014

Survey methodology							
The results provided here are based on responses from approximately 2 500 holdings. Holdings were targeted by farm type and size to ensure a representative sample. 							
														
To be included in the sample, holdings had to be considered commercial as detailed below:							
							
Thresholds for the EU Farm Structure Survey 							
Characteristics		Threshold					
Utilised agricultural area	Arable land, kitchen gardens, permanent grassland, permanent crops	>5 ha					
Permanent outdoor crops	Fruit, berry, citrus and olive plantations, vineyards and nurseries	>1 ha					
Outdoor intensive production	Hops	>0.5 ha					
	Tobacco	>0.5 ha					
	Cotton	>0.5 ha					
	Fresh vegetables, melons and strawberries, which are outdoors or under low (not accessible) protective cover	>0.5 ha					
Crops under glass or other (accessible) protective cover	Fresh vegetables, melons and strawberries	>0.1 ha					
	Flowers and ornamental plants (excluding nurseries)	>0.1 ha					
Bovine animals	All	>10 Head					
Pigs	All	>50 Head					
	Breeding sows	>10 Head					
Sheep	All	>20 Head					
Goats	All	>20 Head					
Poultry	All	>1,000 Head					
Hardy nursery stock		>1 ha					
Mushrooms	All mushroom holdings to be included	>0					
							
Farm size							
The farm size bands used within these detailed results tables are shown below. Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) is defined as the theoretical numbers of workers required each year to run a holding, based on its cropping and livestock activities.							
														
Farm size	Definition						
Small	<3 SLR						
Medium	>=3 and <5 SLR						
Large	>= 5 SLR						
														
For more details of survey methodology and analysis please refer to the Survey details section within the Statistical Release on the Farm Practices Survey landing page:							
							
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/farm-practices-survey	

Farm Practices Survey February 2015 - greenhouse gas mitigation practices
There are historical datasets not included.

Survey methodology							
The latest results provided here are based on approximately 2 600 responses to the 2015 survey. Holdings were targeted by farm type and size to ensure a representative sample. 							
														
Thresholds were applied to ensure that very small holdings with little agricultural activity were not included in the survey. To be included in the sample, holdings had to have at least 50 cattle, 100 sheep, 100 pigs, 1,000 poultry or 20 hectares of arable crops or orchards. Therefore results are national estimates that reflect only on the 60 thousand holdings that exceed these thresholds.														
							
For more details of survey methodology and analysis please refer to the Survey details section within the Statistical Release on the Farm Practices Survey webpage:							
							
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/farm-practices-survey							
							
Farm size							
The farm size bands used within these detailed results tables are shown below. Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) is defined as the theoretical numbers of workers required each year to run a holding, based on its cropping and livestock activities.							
																											
			Farm size	Definition			
			Small	<2 SLR			
			Medium	>=2 and <3 SLR			
			Large	>= 3 SLR			
							
Farmed area							
The farmed area here is defined as the total area on agricultural holdings on 1 June. This includes all arable and horticultural crops, temporary and permanent grassland, sole right rough grazing, woodland, land used for outdoor pigs and uncropped arable land. The farmed area used in the latest nutrient management section is taken from the 2014 June Survey of Agriculture and Horticuture.							
																																			
Data revisions							
In 2013 the 2012 results by farm size were reproduced for some sections - marked with a footnote. This was due to some holdings previously being classified into the incorrect size band. Although the number of responses used in each size band has changed the changes seen in the survey results have not been statistically significant unless indicated in each table. No revisions have occurred since.	

If you require the datasets in a more accessible format, please contact farming-statistics@defra.gsi.gov.uk 						
							
							
							
							
						

Organization: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs