Scottish cereal expansion helps drought-hit figures

There was confirmation yesterday that Scottish cereal growers will this year help fill the gap caused by the drought in the grain growing areas of England.

Commenting on the latest acreage figures on this year’s crop, Jack Watts, cereals expert with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, said the 3 per cent increase in the total Scottish cereal area this year would help reduce any shortfall in UK production.

This year, the AHDB reckon there are 433,000 hectares of cereals grown in Scotland a rise of 11,000 hectares on the 2010 total. The wheat area in particular has risen to 116,000 hectares, an increase of 4 per cent from the 2010 wheat area and the second highest wheat area planted in Scotland since 1992.

“This increase in wheat production, coupled with a 4 per cent rise in the spring barley planting indicates that Scotland can go some way towards compensating for drought-lost production in England, but a lot will depend on the conditions at harvest,” he said.

On a GB basis, there has been a steady increase in the total wheat and barley areas planted, with wheat showing a 1 per cent increase on 2010, taking the total area from 1,928,000 hectares to 1,941,000 hectares and total barley area increasing by 2 per cent from 894,000 hectares to 915,000 hectares.

But the biggest increase in cereal and oilseed crops comes in oilseed rape where the GB area has risen by 9 per cent in comparison to 2010 – giving a total area of 696,000 hectares; the largest area ever recorded.

“Following last year’s increase of 14 per cent in the oilseed rape area, we have seen another 9 per cent increase in the plantings for harvest 2011 indicating the strong profitability for the crop at the time of planting,” according to Watts.

However, he hedged the news with a warning to growers that with oilseed rape increasing in frequency within rotations, they should be aware of the potential agronomic implications, including disease build-up.

“The competitiveness of oilseed rape this harvest will be maintained by relatively strong prices, but growers should be aware of the risks for next season,” he said.

Watts said it was too early to say which crops had lost on in the increased cereal and oilseed acreage whether this had been at the expense of pulses, root crops or temporary grassland.”

On a regional basis in England, much of the cereal acreage increase has been in the north and west areas where, Watts said, growers, especially livestock producers could be either looking to capitalise on strong prices, or simply protecting themselves from higher input costs by growing more home-grown feed.

The survey also revealed that wheat growers in Scotland and the north of England are now planting less high quality varieties, indicating, according to Watts that yields are more important than premiums for quality cultivars