The Business & Industry Guides series is produced by the Library & Information Service for ICAEW members and ACA students.

We can compile tailored key players reports, mailing lists, market reports, benchmarking reports and industry news. Our enquiry team can also research other industry-specific information, such as taxation, for you. Call us on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or email library@icaew.com.

Andersons Outlook 2025
Annual publication from The Andersons Centre farm business consultants which provides a synopsis of business performance across UK farming and its prospects for the year ahead.

The Farmland Market
Article from Savills published in January 2025 on the British farmland market covering its performance in 2024 and the expected impact of the government’s inheritance tax reforms on farmers and the land market.

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook
Annually updated report on major agricultural commodities, biofuels and fish produced by the OECD and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Detailed analysis, interactive data and projections for each sector cover:

• market situation
• projection highlights
• market trends and prospects
• main issues and uncertainties.

Market research reports focusing on this business sector are available from a number of market research specialists. In most cases these reports are available to fee-paying subscribers or on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Some free information is available from the following market research specialists, ranging from industry news to executive summaries of the reports.

Euromonitor
A full listing of reference products and research reports for agriculture industry from Euromonitor, with a range of global, country and company level reports. Each report provides a contents listing and a useful executive summary reporting on the key trends in each country report.

IBISWorld
Business and industry research specialists offering reports on a wide range of sectors, including cereals, leguminous crops and oil seed growing and vegetable, melon, root and tuber growing. Report snapshots, table of contents and a sample report are available. The company also produces global industry research reports.

DEFRA

The Agriculture in the United Kingdom annual publication provides data collated by DEFRA. Topics include:

• farm incomes
• land use
• livestock numbers
• prices
• production of key commodities
• overseas trade
• organic farming
• environment.

Office for National Statistics

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) from the Office for National Statistics collects financial information covering UK production, construction, distribution and service industries. Statistics available include:

• number of enterprises;
• total turnover;
• approximate gross value added at basic prices;
• total purchases of goods, materials and services;
• total employment costs;
• total net capital expenditure;
• total net capital expenditure – acquisitions;
• total net capital expenditure – disposals;
• total stocks and work in progress – value at end of year;
• total stocks and work in progress – value at beginning of year;
• total stocks and work in progress – increase during year.

The dataset Non-financial business economy, UK: Sections A to S includes statistics for:

• Support activities for crop production (01.61)
  See Section A: Agriculture, forestry and fishing
• Post-harvest crop activities (01.63)
  See Section A: Agriculture, forestry and fishing

Farming and Rural Business Group (ICAEW)

Members of ICAEW's Farming and Rural Business Group have access to Key Farm Facts, a monthly statistical bulletin which includes crop prices, exchange rates and other useful information.

Eurostat

Eurostat, the EU statistics hub, collates a range of agricultural statistics giving the latest available figures by country.

UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (Comtrade)

The UN compiles and publishes international import and export statistics in the Commodity Trade Statistics Database (Comtrade), giving figures for goods traded by value, quantity and weight for each country.

Statistics are available for:

• Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers (07)
• Edible fruit, nuts, peel of citrus fruit, melons (08)
• Coffee, tea, mate and spices (09)
• Cereals (10)
• Oil seed, oleagic fruits, grain, seed, fruit, etc. (12)

UN Industrial Commodity Statistics Database

The UN provides statistics on the quantity of goods produced by country in the Industrial Commodity Statistics Database.

Figures are available for:

• Grain mill products, starches and starch products; other food products (23) – including cereals, rice and sugar

UK

The annual Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), published by the Office for National Statistics, includes total employee and employment estimates for different industries for Great Britain and the UK. Figures are broken down to show full-time/part-time and public/private splits. The dataset Industry – Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES): Table 2 includes statistics for:

• Support activities for crop production (01610)
• Post-harvest crop activities (01630)

The Office for National Statistics publication Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) includes average employment costs within this sector which can be found in Table 14. Average employment costs are provided for full-time employees, part-time employees and all employees.

• farm managers
• farmers
• agricultural machinery drivers
• farm workers.

Other regions

Please see individual country profile pages for links to sources of national statistics.

UK

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a section on health and safety in agriculture, which includes latest regulations affecting this industry.

Gov.uk offers guidance and information on farming topics, including:

• agricultural workers' rights
• crops and horticulture
• land management.

The Rural Payments Agency is a government organisation that administers rural payments and grants for a number of different schemes to support farming and the food sector.

Farming businesses: working after Brexit transition
Guidance from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs for farming businesses from 1 January 2021. Areas covered include: Farm and rural payments; Importing and exporting; Marketing standards; Employees; Food and drink labelling; Genetically modified organisms (GMOs); Fertilisers; Pesticides regulations; Chemical regulations; Water regulations.

Agricultural transition plan 2021 to 2024
Policy paper from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs setting out the changes that will be made to agricultural policy in England from 1 January 2021. It also covers what these changes will mean for farmers and land managers. Published on 30 November 2020.

Trade Tariff

The Trade Tariff is a useful Gov.uk database listing tax, duties and licenses for the import and export of goods between the UK and other countries. The database is searchable by product or commodity code and results can be filtered by date and country. Information also includes links to relevant conditions and regulations.

See import and export information for:

• edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers
• edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruit or melons
• coffee, tea, maté and spices
• cereals
• oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder.

Farmers weekly

Farmers Weekly publishes a collection of resources on business management featuring articles, guides and case studies. Areas covered include: finance; business structures; people management and staff issues; succession planning; tenancies and rents; payments, schemes and grants; planning permission.

The websites of trade bodies and other organisations in this sector are a useful source of industry overviews, contacts and statistics.

UK

• Association of Independent Crop Consultants (AICC)
• British Association of Green Crop Driers (BAGCD)
• British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO)
• British Crop Production Council (BCPC)
• British Herb Trade Association (BHTA)
• British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB)
• Cucumber Growers' Association (CGA)
• Potato Council

General agriculture and farming bodies

• Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC)
• British Farm Data Council
• IAgrE (Institution of Agricultural Engineers)
• Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators (IAgSA)
• National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC)
• National Farmers' Union (NFU)
• Soil Association Certification
• Tenant Farmers Association (TFA)

Europe

• COCERAL
• Consorzio Nazionale degli Olivicoltori (CNO) (Italy)
• Copa-Cogeca
• European Seed Association (ESA)
• Freshfel
• SEVITEL: Greek Association of Industries and Processors of Olive Oil

Americas

• Canadian Federation of Agriculture
• Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil (CNA)
• National Farmers Union (NFU) (US)
• Pulse Canada

Asia

• JA Zenchu (Japan)

Oceania

• Agribusiness Association of Australia
• Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF)
• National Farmers' Federation (NFF) (Australia)
• Pulse Australia

Global

• International Farm Management Association (IFMA)
• International Grains Council (IGC)
• International Olive Council
• Global Pulses Confederation (GPC)
• International Seed Federation (ISF)

Trade journals, B2B magazines and specialist consumer magazines are another useful source of news and statistics.

• AgWeb
• Agra Europe
• Farm Business
• Farmers Guardian
• Farm Futures
• Farmers Weekly
• Farming Monthly National
• Farming UK
• The Public Ledger
• Rice Farming

• View a list of articles and books in our collection on agriculture and farming

To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to book loans.

You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports by post or email through our document supply service.