No Record For Scottish Harvest December 17, 2015 12:00 am Despite a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting a record 2015 harvest for Scottish farmers the official Government statistics show otherwise. SCOTLAND HARVEST 2015 – Source: Scottish Government Crop 2014 2015 % Change 2014-2015 Yield t/ha Production ‘000t Yield t/ha Production ‘000t Yield t/ha Production ‘000t Spring Barley 6.07 1,665 5.94 1,521 -2.1 -8.7 Winter Barley 7.82 411 7.84 406 0.2 -1.1 Wheat 9.07 989 9.30 1,019 +2.5 +3.0 Oats 6.10 153 5.92 152 -3.1 -0.9 Total Cereals 6.97 3,221 6.99 3,101 +0.3 -3.7 Oilseed Rape 3.98 148 4.15 148 +4.2 +0.6 The decline in area, predominately from barley, led to reduced overall production. Crop Diversification rules under Greening are likely to have played a major role in the reduction in barley area. Yields for all cereals are lower that the first estimates produced in October, with overall cereal yields down 4.6% on the expected yield. As with most years, there is a significant variation in yields across the county; 2015 yields in the South were particularly strong. However harvest began relatively late in many areas with bad weather halting progress a number of times. The full details can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/12/5988
