August 8, 2011

Early UK wheat harvest yields lower than average

Yields at the start of the UK's wheat harvest were "lower than the five-year average" of 7.8 tonnes per hectare, with some areas hit harder by the spring drought reporting "very poor" yields of less than four tonnes per hectare.

However, crop consultancy Adas added that based on the first UK wheat cuts, the crop quality was deemed "good" thus far, producing specific weights of 75-85 kilogrammes per hectolitre and protein levels of 12.8-13.1%.

The UK's wheat harvest is usually the EU's third biggest.

Results from autumn-sown barley and rapeseed harvests, which are already some 70% complete, imply that the wheat results may improve as combines fire up further north and west, where the drought hit less hard, and where many farms have more moisture-retentive soils.

Adas inched its forecast for the average UK winter barley yield this year higher to 5.9-6.1 tonnes per hectare, from 5.6-6.0 tonnes per hectare, noting that "heavier soil types are tending to yield 8.5-9.5 tonnes per hectare for feed varieties".

For winter rapeseed, which accounts for the great majority of the UK harvest of the oilseed, Adas lifted its yield forecast to 3.6-3.7 tonnes per hectare, from 3.3-3.7 tonnes per hectare.

"The yields for winter oilseed rape are good this year, currently averaging about 15% above the national five-year average oilseed rape yield," according to Adas.