Results from the June Agricultural Census 2025
Date published:
The results from the June 2025 Agricultural Census have been released today, Thursday 11 December 2025, 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 2025.
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 2025 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 2024 and June 2025 are:
Farms: In June 2025 there were 25,834 farms in Northern Ireland and the total area farmed (excluding common land) was approximately one million hectares (1,032,296 hectares), similar to 26,190 farms and 1,040,392 hectares in 2024.
Cattle: Total cattle numbers have decreased by 2% to 1,647,256. The number of dairy cows increased by 2% to 330,673, while the number of beef cows decreased by 5% to 213,744.
Sheep: There was a decrease of 7% in breeding ewes compared to 2024, with numbers falling to 864,522. Overall, the total number of sheep recorded was 1,819,386, which was an 8% fall from June 2024.
Pigs: Total pig numbers recorded in June 2025 increased by 8% to 744,858 compared to June 2024.
Poultry: Total poultry numbers on farms at June 2025 increased by 9% from 2024 levels with approximately 25.8 million birds recorded. Total number of laying birds saw an increase of 18% whilst broiler numbers increased by 1% and other poultry increased by 25% compared to June 2024.
Crops: The total area of crops grown in Northern Ireland in 2025 was approximately 46,578 hectares, a decrease of less than 1%, indicating that the figures remained relatively stable from 2024. The total area of cereals (30,170 hectares) grown in 2025 decreased by less than 1%, indicating that the figures remained relatively stable from 2024. Wheat crops increased by 9% to 8,761 hectares, Winter Barley increased by 8% and Spring Barley decreased by 11%, while Oats increased by 1% from 2024, at 1,814 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, Clare House, 303 Airport Road West, Belfast, BT3 9ED.
- The Agricultural Census data was collected and processed using:
- A full census sample created using Departmental Administration data.
- All farms are contacted and invited to participate in an online survey.
- In 2025 the survey was successfully conducted on the BLAISE survey software for the first time, which incorporates additional functionalities requested by farmers in recent years.
- Data on pigs and poultry were gathered from the NI Annual Inventory of Pigs and update of the NI Bird Register.
- Data for the cattle section was extracted from the NIFAIS cattle tracing database as 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 were used to create statistics for those who did not provide a return.
- Results are based on 15,630 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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