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First Estimate of the Cereal and Oilseed Rape Harvest 2009
08/10/2009
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published first estimates of the 2009 cereal and oilseed rape harvest.
These estimates indicate that, compared with final estimates from the 2008 harvest:
- Cereal production decreased by 79,000 tonnes or 2.7 per cent to 2.865 million tonnes. Areas decreased by 9,000 hectares or 2 per cent and average yields remained stable at 6.4 tonnes per hectare. The late harvest last year and wet autumn sowing conditions lead to a reduction in winter cereal areas and an increase in spring cereal areas.
- Wheat production decreased by 202,000 tonnes or 21.3 per cent to 746,000 tonnes. Areas decreased by 21,000 hectares or 18.7 per cent and average yields were down 3.1 per cent to 8.1 tonnes per hectare.
- Total barley production increased by 108,000 tonnes or 5.8 per cent to 1.980 million tonnes. Production of spring barley increased by 198,000 tonnes, caused by a 9.4 per cent increase in area and a 3.9 per cent increase in yield. Winter barley production decreased by 90,000 tonnes, due to a 21.6 per cent decrease in area.
- The production of oats increased by 17,000 tonnes or 14.2 per cent to 136,000 tonnes. This increase was caused mainly by an 11.3 per cent increase in yield as areas were similar to last year.
- Oilseed rape production decreased by 11,000 tonnes or 9.9 per cent to 104,000 tonnes. This was due to the 13.6 per cent reduction in areas outweighing the 4.9 per cent increase in average yield.
The following table shows area, yield and production estimates for the 2009 harvest compared with last year :
Area, yield and production estimates for the 2009 Harvest, Scotland
| 2008 | 2009 | Change 2009/2008 |
| Area | Yield | Prod | Area 2 | Yield | Prod | Area | Yield | Prod |
Crop | (000 ha) | (t/ha) | (000 t) | (000 ha) | (t/ha) | (000 t) | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
Wheat | 114 | 8.3 | 948 | 92 | 8.1 | 746 | -18.7% | -3.1% | -21.3% |
| | | | | | | | | |
Winter Barley | 58 | 7.4 | 424 | 45 | 7.4 | 334 | -21.6% | 0.5% | -21.2% |
Spring Barley | 262 | 5.5 | 1,447 | 287 | 5.7 | 1,646 | 9.4% | 3.9% | 13.7% |
Total Barley | 320 | 5.9 | 1,872 | 332 | 6.0 | 1,980 | 3.8% | 1.9% | 5.8% |
| | | | | | | | | |
Oats | 22 | 5.5 | 119 | 22 | 6.1 | 136 | 2.7% | 11.3% | 14.2% |
| | | | | | | | | |
Total Cereals 1 | 457 | 6.4 | 2,945 | 448 | 6.4 | 2,865 | -2.0% | -0.7% | -2.7% |
| | | | | | | | | |
Oilseed Rape | 34 | 3.4 | 115 | 29 | 3.6 | 104 | -13.6% | 4.9% | -9.9% |
| | | | | | | | | |
Notes |
1 Estimates for Total Cereals include Triticale but exclude Mixed Grain. |
2 Area estimates for 2009 are based on final June Census results. | |
View larger version of the table
The 2009 estimates of production are based on final crop areas from the 2009 June Census, along with crop yield estimates from Scottish Government Agricultural Staff, supplemented by discussions with trade organisations.
The 2008 estimates of production are based on final yield results from the 2008 Cereal Production Survey and final crop areas from the 2008 June Census.
Some caution is advised when comparing these preliminary trends in yield and production estimates between 2008 and 2009 which have been derived from different sources.
Final estimates of production from the 2009 harvest will be obtained from the 2009 Cereal Production Survey and published in January 2010.