Most of Scotland’s land area (66%) is used for agriculture, however, the number of people working as farmers on the farms they occupy has declined steadily.

Most of Scotland’s farmers are owner occupiers – this includes those who rent their farms. As with the ageing demographic of the whole of Scotland, the majority of the farmers are 55+ years of age. The Scottish Agricultural Census for 2026 does not record how many older/younger members of a family may be working on the farm providing their labour to help out. Only 40% work full-time on their farm (39+ hours a week), holding down another job as well.

The total agricultural workforce was 66,100 people in 2026 :

• 32,000 regular and part time employees 
• 8,200 casual and seasonal workers

2026: Non-EU workers accounted for 76% (2025, 70%) of the migrant labour person working day.

2026: EU workers accounted for 24% ( 2025, 30%) of the migrant labour person working day .

The number of hectares (1,800) in Scotland given over the the growing of soft fruits is at its lowest level since 2015. This is mostly a decline in strawberry growing.

One of the issues hitting our farming sector is the escalating costs of energy : for electricity and fuel. The US/Israel war of choice with Iran has sent oil costs rocketing, and although this is great news for speculators on the money markets, for everyone else, especially food producers, it is a crisis.

President of NFU Scotland, Andrew Connon has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham MP calling for immediate measures to protect productive farm businesses alongside longer-term investment to make agriculture more energy resilient.

NFU Scotland is calling for the current 6.48p per litre rebated fuel duty rate to be maintained beyond 31 December 2026, with no automatic return to higher duty rates while red diesel prices remain exceptionally high.

It also wants an agricultural fuel rebate threshold to provide temporary support when prices exceed an agreed level, and a Farm Energy Resilience Fund to help farms invest in renewable energy generation, energy efficiency and energy storage.

Andrew Connon said that the UK Government “should act now rather than wait for the consequences to emerge through reduced production, unsustainable farm borrowing or further pressure on food prices.”

NFU Scotland is also calling for agricultural businesses to have access to emergency energy cost support made available to other sectors, including consideration of targeted temporary assistance for electricity and gas used directly in food production.

And then there is our changing climate:

Britain is now on track for one of its worst cereal and oilseed harvests on record, according to new analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank.

European farmers too are set for poorer harvests caused by heat and drought.

Click on this link for, Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2026.

Fiona Grahame