Dairy farming

Use our industry guide to find key background information, market research, import and export guidelines, statistics, legislation, trade bodies and trade publications.

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.

Trends and forecasts

Outlook 2025: Better dairy prospects but a shrinking sector
Article published by Farmer's Weekly in January 2025 on the outlook for farmers in the UK dairy sector. Topics covered include production costs, legislation and the importance of future proofing farm businesses.

Andersons Outlook 2025
Annual publication from The Andersons Centre farm business consultants which provides a synopsis of business performance across UK farming, including dairy, 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.

Trade and policy: food, farming and agriculture
A collection of news and insights from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) exploring how UK farming businesses are affected by changes in domestic policy and international trade.

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

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.

Industry news

The Library can carry out industry news searches for ICAEW members and ACA students.

Statistics on the UK

UK Parliament

The research briefing English farm statistics: challenges, farm types and regions provides data on the challenges to English farms of inflationary pressures and the transition to new agricultural funding schemes. It also gives an overview of the structure of the agricultural sector in England with key statistics on farms by type and by region. Published by the House of Commons Library in September 2023

AHDB Dairy

AHDB Dairy provides market information and statistics with topics including:

milk prices and contracts
dairy sales and consumption
supply and production
processing and trade
farming data
farm expenses

DEFRA

The Agriculture in the United Kingdom annual publication provides data collated by DEFRA. The statistics cover:

farm incomes
land use
livestock numbers
prices
production of key commodities
overseas trade
organic farming
the 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 animal production (01.62)
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 milk prices, exchange rates and other useful information.

Statistics on Europe

Agricultural statistics

Eurostat, the EU statistics hub, compiles a wide range of figures on agricultural production including:

collection of cows' milk
production of butter
production of milk powder
production of cheese
production and utilisation of milk on the farm.

Farm Structure Survey

The Farm Structure Survey (FSS) provides data on agricultural holdings in the EU, including:

number of agricultural holdings
land use and area (crops)
livestock
main crops
farm labour force (including age, gender and relationship to the holder)
economic size of the holdings
type of activity
other gainful activity on the farm
system of farming
machinery
organic farming.

Statistics on Oceania

Dairy Australia

Dairy Australia provides comprehensive data on statistics and markets in Australia and other regions. Topics include:

market situation and outlook
farm inputs and costs
production and sales
prices
exports and trade.

Global statistics

INDSTAT

The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) collects and compiles industrial statistics known as INDSTAT, which give information on:

number of employees
number of establishments
output
value added
total wages and salaries.

Statistics by country are available for:

Dairy products (1520)

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:

Dairy products, eggs, honey, edible animal product (04)

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:

Dairy products (22)

Employment

UK

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.

The data includes average employment costs for:

farm managers
farmers
agricultural machinery drivers
farm workers.

Other regions

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

Legislation and regulation

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 provides information and guidance on farming businesses and keeping farmed animals including:

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.

Import and export

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:

dairy produce.

UK business guides

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.