Winter Cropping 2014 Harvest March 10, 2014 12:00 am Not surprisingly, the area of winter combinable crops has rebounded strongly for harvest 2014. The planted area of winter cereals and oilseed rape has climbed by 14% compared to the harvest area in 2013. These results come from the AHDB/HGCA Winter Planting Survey, and relate to England and Wales. Autumn drillings in 2012 were seriously affected by the wet weather. Plantings last autumn were in far more favourable conditions, and it seems that farmers have maximised their areas of winter crops. The wheat area rose by 19% compared to the total 2013 crop (the Survey collects plantings data up to the 1st December, so further winter plantings and spring cropping would add to the total). The winter barley area was up a huge 41% – potentially creating the highest cropped amount since 2013. Oilseed rape has increased 3% (against the combined autumn and spring area of last year). A fuller analysis of the data, plus figures for Scotland will be published on the 25th March.
