60% Micro
35% Small
3% Mid
1% Large
0% Mega
INSIGHTS - MARCH 2025
UK Farming Industry
UK Farming Industry Information
The farming industry involves the production of crop and animal products, including organic agriculture and genetically modified crops as well as hunting, trapping and related activities.
Active Businesses
27,556
Annual Sales
£38bn +
Employees
168,098
Economic Contribution
£9bn
Tags
Location of Farming Companies
Farming Companies by Size
Largest Farming Companies
Turnover
W.& R. Barnett, Limited
£1.8bn
Hook 2 Sisters Limited
£999.2m
Mccain Foods (G.b.) Limited
£712.6m
Genus Plc
£668.8m
Farming Companies by Age
36% Mature
27% Established
22% Young
16% Startup
0% New
Oldest Farming Companies
Established
Fastest Growing Farming Companies
35% Declining
25% Healthy
16% High
16% Rapid
9% Low
Fastest Growing Farming Companies
3yr CAGR
Farming Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers
Farming Industry Valuation
EBITDA Multiple
Farming Industry Valuation
Turnover Multiple
Farming Industry Valuation
Net Asset Multiple
Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities Industry Insights
There are 27,556 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £38 billion .
The Industry employs around 168,097 people and contributes £9 billion to the economy.
The most popular location for Farming companies is East of England with 4,040 and the fewest are located in North East England with 735.
The largest Farming company is W.& R. Barnett, Limited with a turnover of £1.8bn. 60% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 3% Mid companies.
16% of the Farming Industry is made up of 16% Startup but the majority are Mature businesses (36%) the oldest company is Broughton Auction Co Limited(the) founded in 1877.
Farming industry has a number of high growth companies (16%), the fastest growing company is Wold Farms Limited with a 3 year growth rate of 96%. Other fast growing companies include Worth Farms Produce Limited (93%), Cobb Farming Limited (67%) and William Smith (Wakefield) Limited (61%).
The UK Farming Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 8.26x, Turnover multiple of 1.18x and a Net Asset multiple of 1.65x.
