Crop Area Drops

Not surprisingly, the area likely to be harvested this year shows a drop on previous seasons.  The HGCA has just published its plantings survey, which is a fairly accurate barometer of what is out there after the very wet autumn and winter.  Final figures will come from the DEFRA/SG/WG June Survey which has a larger sample size and is published in September.

The table below shows the results of the HGCA Survey alongside previous years’ June Survey data for Great Britain.  It can be seen that the wheat and winter barley areas have suffered big drops.  This is partially offset by a big jump in spring barley and oats (likely to be spring oats).  This leaves the total cereals area only slightly down on 2012 and not too far different from the three years that preceded it.  The oilseed area shows a sizeable reduction from last year but, again, in historic terms it is still the third largest cropped area ever.  The total cereals and oilseed area drops by 4%.  The total does not include pulses, but the HGCA figures states that the GB field bean area has increased by an estimated 14% to 109,000 hectares.  Much of this will be spring beans.                   

This year, the survey asked respondents to state their likely harvested area rather than planted area.  This should have removed any crops that have been abandoned as too poor to harvest.  However, the areas shown are still likely to include a lot of crops that have low yield potential and have received the minimum of inputs.  The average yield across the areas shown may be lower than last year’s, resulting in another low-volume harvest.   For producers, low outputs are unlikley to be compensated by high prices in to the same extent as last year.

The HGCA carries out a Variety Survey at the same time.  Nabim Group 4 wheats again have proved by far the most popular with growers.  Of the barley crop, 73% was planted to varieties with malting potential with the remainder being pure feed varieties. 

HGCA VARIETY SURVEY – 2013