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Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2023
Structure of industry
The Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) decreased by 2.3% and was 17 million hectares, covering 70% of land in the UK.
The total croppable area saw little change and was 6.1 million hectares.
The total labour force on commercial holdings decreased by 1.7% and was 462 thousand people.
Farming income
In 2022/23, the average Farm Business Income (FBI) across all farm types in Great Britain (Northern Ireland data for 2022/33 were not available at the time of publication) was £86,000 compared to the UK average of £72,000 in 2021/22.
Crops
The value of vegetable production increased by 10% to £1.9 billion.
The value of fruit production increased by 2.2% to just over £1.0 billion.
Agri-environment
Estimated greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions from agriculture have fallen between 1990 and 2022.
After a continuous increase from 2010 to 2018, pesticide usage declined in 2020. This was followed by an increase in 2022, where usage was similar to levels in 2010.
Since the late 1990s, nitrogen and phosphate fertiliser application rates have fallen and were at their lowest rate in 2022.
Soil nutrient balances for nitrogen and phosphorus have fluctuated over time, but have shown an overall downward trend and were at the lowest level in 2022.
Organics
498 thousand hectares were farmed organically in the UK.
60% of UK organic land was in England, 23% in Scotland, 15% in Wales and 1.4% in Northern Ireland.
Overseas trade
The value of food, feed and drink exports decreased by £3.1 billion (11%) to £24.4 billion.
The value of food, feed and drink imports decreased by £5.9 billion (8.8%) to £61.1 billion.
The trade gap in food, feed and drink decreased by £2.8 billion (7.1%) to £36.7 billion.
Principal destinations for exports were Ireland (£4.1 billion), France (£2.7 billion), the United States (£2.4 billion) and the Netherlands (£2.0 billion).
The main countries of dispatch for imports into the UK were the Netherlands (£7.6 billion), France (£6.3 billion), Belgium (£4.9 billion) and Ireland (£4.8 billion).
Whisky continued to have the highest export value, totalling £5.8 billion. This was a decrease of 18% compared to the previous year.
Fresh fruit and vegetables together remained the highest value category for imports, totalling £7.1 billion, a decrease of 2.2%.
Exports of fresh vegetables fell by 8.9% to £82 million, but exports of fresh fruit rose by 4% to £70 million.