3.2 Crops, fallow and set aside land ( Table 1)
In 2011, there were 582,968 hectares of crops and fallow land, with cereals accounting for the majority (77% or 447,104 hectares). Oilseeds made up 7% and fallow land 3%, with the remaining 14% including potatoes, stock feeding crops, fruit and vegetables.
Chart 3: Trends in Crops, fallow and set-aside land 2001 to 2011
Chart 3 shows trends in these areas over the past 10 years, including set-aside land up to 2008. The area of set-aside land was driven by compulsory EC set-aside rates (10% between 2000 and 2003; 5% between 2004 and 2007, 0% in 2008), as well as by the use of voluntary set-aside, until set-aside was abolished from 2009 in the Common Agricultural Policy ( CAP) Health Check. Over this period set-aside land peaked at just over 90,000 hectares in 2001 and 2003.
Set-aside was originally introduced to limit the production of cereals in the EU and was applied on a voluntary basis from 1988/89, becoming compulsory from 1993. In 2005, the Single Farm Payment was introduced, which decoupled subsidy payments from crop areas, which was then followed by a decrease in the total crop, fallow and set-aside land of 38,453 hectares (6%) between 2004 and 2006.
Cereal areas were at their lowest in 2006 and 2007, but increased by 52,888 hectares (13.1%) in 2008 in response to tight EU and world supply, high market prices following the 2007 harvest and a reduction in compulsory set-aside rates to 0%. There were decreases in cereal areas in 2009 (1.8%) and 2010 (5.0%) as market prices dropped and the supply situation eased.
Cereal prices have since risen resulting in an increase of 20,826 hectares (4.9%) in the area of cereal crops in 2011 to 447,104 hectares. This larger area of cereals has possibly replaced some areas of grassland under 5 years (down by 11,444 or 2.7%), fallow land (down by 6,878 or 31.4%), crops for stockfeeding (down by 3,048 or 13.2%), and peas & beans for combining (down by 2,000 or 28.8%) as farmers look to benefit from higher cereals prices.