Results from the June Agricultural Census 2024
Date published:
The results from the June 2024 Agricultural Census have been released today, Thursday 12 December 2024, by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
The statistics provide estimates of crop areas and numbers of livestock on active farm businesses on the survey date of 1 June 2024.
The statistics are compiled from a survey of farm businesses augmented by administrative data (source from the Northern Ireland Food Animal Information System (NIFAIS), cattle tracing system). Data collection for the Farm Census has moved entirely online since 2020. In 2024 a large response was achieved from the online-only collection and focused telephone follow-up. This has enabled detailed farm census statistics to be produced.
The main changes between June 2023 and June 2024 are:
Farms: In June 2024 there were 26,190 farms in Northern Ireland and the total area farmed (excluding common land) was approximately one million hectares (1,040,392 hectares), similar to 26,131 farms and 1,042,318 hectares in 2023.
Cattle: Total cattle numbers have remained stable at 1,673,236. The number of dairy cows increased by 2% to 325,325, while the number of beef cows decreased by 4% to 226,000.
Sheep: There was a decrease of 4% in breeding ewes compared to 2023, with numbers falling to 930,447. Overall, the total number of sheep recorded was 1,969,023, which was a 4% fall from June 2023.
Pigs: Total pig numbers recorded in June 2024 increased by 1% to 692,091 compared to June 2023.
Poultry: Total poultry numbers on farms at June 2024 decreased by 8% from 2023 levels with 23.7 million birds recorded. Total number of laying birds saw an increase of 4% whilst broiler numbers decreased by 14% and other poultry decreased by 21% compared to June 2023.
Crops: The total area of crops grown in Northern Ireland in 2024 was approximately 46,795 hectares, a decrease of 2% from 2023. The total area of cereals (30,342 hectares) grown in 2024 decreased by 5% from 2023. Wheat crops decreased by 3% to 8,029 hectares, Winter Barley decreased by 18% and Spring Barley increased by 4%, while Oats decreased by 7% from 2023, at 1,788 hectares.
Notes to editors:
- The survey results were prepared by Statistics and Analytical Services Branch, Policy, Economics and Statistics Division of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3SB.
- Key methodological changes introduced in 2020 both in how the Agricultural Census data was collected and processed continued in 2024. These included:
• Letters inviting farms to take part were issued to all farms and data collected online only.
• Some questions were simplified or removed to streamline the online collection experience and reduce the burden on farms.
• Data on pigs and poultry were gathered from the NI Annual Inventory of Pigs and Update of the NI Bird Register.
• Data for cattle was extracted from the NIFAIS cattle tracing database, replacing APHIS that was used in previous years.
• Telephone support was provided for farmers who could not complete online with a focussed telephone follow-up of non-responding farms.
• Estimation and imputation methods introduced in 2020 were used to create statistics for those who did not provide a return. - Results are based on 16,358 completed questionnaires augmented with data from the NIFAIS cattle tracing system, Northern Ireland Bird Register and Northern Ireland Annual Inventory of Pigs.
- Full details of the coverage of the census and of terms used are provided in The Agricultural Census in Northern Ireland Methodology and Quality Report
- These statistics are released according to the Statement of Compliance with the Pre-release access to Official Statistics Order (NI) 2009.
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