This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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First estimate of cereal harvest
07/10/2004
The Executive today announced the preliminary estimate of the 2004 Scottish cereal harvest is 3.0 million tonnes. This is an increase of 5 per cent on the 2003 harvest.
The rise in production is mainly attributable to an increase in total wheat production - due to both an increase in the area sown and an improved yield.
The figures are based on area figures from the provisional June 2004 census results and an initial estimate of crop yields. The production estimate will be finalised with the publication of the 2004 Cereal Production survey early next year.
The production estimates for individual cereals are given below with last year's final figures:-
Thousand Tonnes
2004 2003
Wheat 926 728
Barley (winter) 430 392
Barley (spring) 1495 1583
Total Barley 1925 1975
Oats and Other cereals 139 139
TOTAL CEREALS 2990 2841
Oilseed Rape 124 121
Wheat yields (tonnes per hectare) are provisionally estimated to be 8 per cent up on last year's cereal production survey results and the area sown is up by almost 18 per cent. Total barley cropped area is down by over 2 per cent and total yield is marginally lower, however there was a distinct variation between the yields of the winter and spring barley crops; the winter barley yield increased by 9 per cent while the spring barley yield reduced by almost 3 per cent. Both the oat yields and area grown were close to last year's figures. Oilseed rape yields decreased by almost 9 per cent while the area grown increased by over 12 per cent compared with 2003.
Totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components due to rounding.