Rural Payments and Services

Rural and Environmental Science and Agricultural Services (RESAS) collects statistical information on the agricultural sector. Due to the current COVID-19 guidance the planned schedule of statistical surveys for 2020 is changing.

The below changes have been developed in consultation with DEFRA and the other devolved administrations to ensure UK figures can still be produced on all major agricultural surveys.

This approach also ensures we comply with current legislation and guidance provided by both the Government Statistical Service and the UK Statistics Authority.

Surveys that are temporarily stopping

Farm Structure Survey (FSS)

This will be delayed until 2021. The FSS is a large, mainly paper-based survey and delaying will help reduce the burden on farmers at this time.

Cereal Harvest Survey

By combining industry intelligence on predicted crop yields and other statistics, an Initial Estimate Cereal Harvest report will be provided in October. Instead of using surveys to produce a final estimate, the final estimates will now be based on a similar method used for the initial estimate.

Surveys that are changing

June Agricultural Census

We will conduct a voluntary June online survey to help assess the impact of COVID-19 on the agricultural sector. In previous years, the June Census was collected between June and August – we are currently revising how soon we can deliver this survey. A decision will be announced shortly.

Farm Business Survey (FBS)

This is based on the financial accounts of around 500 commercial farms. This regulatory requirement examines a sample of agricultural business accounts through visits to farm businesses. This is currently contracted to SAC Consulting. RESAS has instructed SAC to discontinue farm visits for now. The current delays are not anticipated to affect the overall results from this survey or the timing of the report in 2021.

Other surveys and annual reports

The Economic Report for Scottish Agriculture (ERSA) will be produced for 2020 and 2019 this summer.

The Total Income From Farming (TIFF) report was due for publication on 28 April 2020 – a future date for publishing this report will be announced in the near future.

Specific requests for data tables can be made through our agric.stats@gov.scot mailbox.

For a full explanation of the changes to our proposed schedule for 2020, please see the attached letter to stakeholders.