New figures show there were 20 fatal injuries to agricultural, forestry and fishing workers in 2019/20, the lowest level on record.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released its annual figures for the number of work-related fatalities in Great Britain.
Despite the fall in deaths for the agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors, it still continues to account for a large share of the annual fatality count.
It has the highest rate of fatal injury of all the main industry sectors, around 18 times as high as the all industry rate.
The NFU said while the figures showed an 'important drop' in farming fatalities, there was still 'significantly more to do'.
Deputy president Stuart Roberts said: "Last year we lost too many of our family, friends and colleagues in the workplace – one fatality is too many."
He said the farming industry had 'consciously' prioritised health and safety over the past few years.
"I hope these figures indicate the start of a downward trend which is underpinned by a culture change in the agriculture sector," Mr Roberts added.
“There will be variations year on year and we need to see longer-term sustained improvement before we can say that farm safety has fundamentally changed.”
Despite the decrease, HSE's chief executive, Sarah Albon it was 'unacceptable' that agriculture still accounted for a large percentage of worker fatalities.
"Agriculture, forestry and fishing accounts for a small fraction of the workforce of Great Britain, yet accounted for around 20 per cent of worker fatalities in the last year.
"This is unacceptable and more must be done to prevent such fatalities taking place," Ms Albon said.
Overall, the safety watchdog's figures show that 111 workers were fatally injured at work between April 2019 and March 2020, the lowest year on record.
The highest number of fatal injuries belonged to the construction sector, which witnessed 40 workplace deaths in 2019/20.
The three most common causes of fatal injuries continue to be; workers falling from height (29), being struck by a moving vehicle (20) and being struck by a moving object (18), accounting for 60% of fatal injuries.
The figures continue to highlight the risks to older workers; 27% of fatal injuries in 2019/20 were to workers aged 60 or over, even though such workers make up only around 10% of the workforce.
Mesothelioma, which is contracted through past exposure to asbestos and is one of the few work-related diseases where deaths can be counted directly, killed 2446 in Britain in 2018.
This is slightly lower than the average 2550 over the previous five years, HSE's figures show.
