The latest National Statistics on United Kingdom agriculture and horticulture, and cereals and oilseed rape production were released on 20 December 2012 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. These data are produced by Defra on behalf of the agriculture departments of the United Kingdom.

Wheat: The 2012 wheat harvest for the UK is 13.3 million tonnes, a decrease of 13% on 2011. This is a result of a 1.1% increase in the wheat area to 2.0 million hectares combined with a 14% decrease in the yield to 6.7 tonnes per hectare. This decrease is a result of the poor weather conditions this year.

Oilseed rape: The oilseed rape harvest has shown a decline of 7.3% to 2.6 million tonnes for 2012. The yield has decreased by 14% to 3.4 tonnes per hectare following the very poor weather during spring and summer. This has been balanced out by an increase in area of 7.3% to 756 thousand hectares following favourable planting conditions in autumn 2011.

Barley: Despite a small reduction in the yield, barley production for 2012 has remained almost static with only a slight increase of 0.5% to 5.5 million tonnes. The yield for barley has fallen by 2.7% to 5.5 tonnes per hectare. Winter barley area has increased by 7.2% to 385 thousand hectares, while the spring barley area has increased only very slightly by 1.1% to 618 thousand hectares.

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As figure above shows, yields for all crops shown have fallen between 2011 and 2012 with wheat and oilseed showing the greatest drops. The wheat yield is the lowest it has been during the last 20 years.


Wheat

The final estimate of the UK wheat harvest for 2012 is 13.3 million tonnes which is a decrease of 13% on 2011. This decrease is mainly due to the large drop in yield to 6.7 tonnes per hectare along with a very slight 1.1% increase in the wheat area to 2.0 million hectares. The area of planted wheat in England which has been harvested as wholecrop for silage in 2012 was 25 thousand hectares, representing 1.4% of the total planted area. This is a slight increase on 2011 where the area of wheat taken for wholecrop represented 1.0% of the total planted area.

Wheat yields continue to vary between the English regions with the highest yield of 7.3 tonnes per hectare being found in the Eastern region. The lowest yield was in the North West and Merseyside at 5.0 tonnes per hectare. Yields have been affected by the poor weather this year which led to high levels of disease during spring and summer along with low sunlight levels during the grainfill period. This can be seen where all regions except the Eastern region have shown a noticeable decrease in yield.

Barley

The yield for barley has decreased slightly on 2011 to 5.5 tonnes per hectare. On a regional basis, the
highest yields for barley were in the Eastern region with an average of 6.4 tonnes per hectare. The lowest regional yield of 4.5 tonnes per hectare was in the North West and Merseyside.

Oilseed rape

UK production for 2012 has decreased by 7.3% to 2.6 million tonnes. This drop was due to a 14% decrease in yield to 3.4 tonnes per hectare, partially balanced by a 7.3% increase in area. This reflects a return to the level of yields seen in recent years. Yields have suffered in comparison to the very high
yields of 2011, primarily as a result of wind and rain flattening the crop in the run up to the harvest, and low sunlight levels during pod fill.

Scotland

Cereal Production decreased between 2011 and 2012 by 441,000 tonnes or 15 percent to 2.5 million tonnes. Areas increased by 11,000 hectares or 2 percent while average yields decreased by 17 percent to 5.5 tonnes per hectare.

Total barley production decreased by 143,000 tonnes or 8 percent to 1.7 million tonnes. This was mostly caused by a decrease in spring barley yields, down 14 percent, despite a 10 percent increase in spring barley area, resulting in a 86,000 tonnes decrease in production. Winter barley production decreased by 57,000 tonnes, due to a 12 percent decrease yield and a 6 percent decrease in area.

Wheat production decreased by 284,000 tonnes or 30 percent to 673,000 tonnes. Areas decreased by 15,000 hectares or 13 percent and average yields decreased by 19 percent to 6.7 tonnes per hectare.

The production of oats decreased by 14,000 tonnes or 11 percent to 108,000 tonnes. This decrease was due to a 9 percent decrease in area, alongside reduction in yield of 18 percent.

Oilseed rape production decreased by 43,000 tonnes or 29 per cent to 106,000 tonnes. This decrease was caused by a 25 percent decrease in yield and a 5 percent decrease in area.

Source - The Defra report here

Source - The Scottish report here