DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-9287-3
title: Farm Business Survey, 2022-2023: Special Licence Access
title: Farm Business Survey, 1982- : Special Licence Access
title: FBS

description: &lt;p&gt;The &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Farm Business Survey&lt;/span&gt; (FBS) is conducted annually to collect business information from about 2,100 farms in England and Wales. The survey provides information on the financial position and physical and economic performance of farm businesses, to inform policy decisions on matters affecting farm businesses and to enable analysis of the impacts of policy options. It is intended to serve the needs of farmers, farming and land management interest groups, government (both national and European), government partners, and researchers. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The primary objective of survey results is to contrast the performance or other business characteristics of different groupings of farm, such as between regions or other geographical or environmental designations, farm types, farm size, age or education of farmer, etc. Up to and including the 2001/02 survey, FBS estimates were based on matching the sample between two adjacent years and farm weights. Farm weights were still calculated to present a matched sample however. From the 2002/03 survey onwards, matching between adjacent years was dropped altogether, and weights are now calculated for the full sample. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The typology used to determine the FBS farm type classification has been revised from 2009 onwards. The FBS typology is now based on standard outputs expressed in euros, with a minimum threshold of 25,000 euro (irrespective of the SLR) for FBS eligibility. Between 2009 and 2011, FBS farm type classification was based on 2007 standard output (SO) coefficients. From 2012, the farm type classification was based on 2010 SO coefficients, and from 2017 the FBS farm type classification was based on 2013 SO coefficients. The coefficients have been revised again for 2023/24 and are based on 2017 coefficients. The change in typology has had an effect on the distribution of farms by farm type and income averages. Further information regarding the change in typology is available on the GOV.UK &lt;a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/farm-business-survey-technical-notes-and-guidance#fbs-documents"&gt;FBS documents&lt;/a&gt; web page.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;
The &lt;i&gt;Farm Business Survey&lt;/i&gt; is available from UKDS under Special Licence access conditions. See the' Access data' section for further details on how to apply for access to the data.&lt;br&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Latest edition information&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the second edition (April 2025), the data and documentation were replaced with those using the revised 2017 Standard Output coefficients and therefore farm typology and business size is different to the previous version. The 2017 coefficients used here are those used for the 2023-2024 data (see SN 9360), and so are not compatible with previous years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the third edition (May 2025), a version of the data using the previous 2014 Standard Output (SO) coefficients was added to the study. This version is based on the same farm typology criteria as previous years' FBS data. Therefore, users have the choice of using data compatible with previous years (2014 SO) or with later years (2017 SO).&lt;/p&gt;