Record British wheat harvest

The first official estimates of the 2008 UK cereal harvest point to a bumper wheat crop this year, Farming Minister Jane Kennedy said today.

Today’s initial figures show that the UK cereals harvest in 2008 is around 24.6 million tonnes, up 28 per cent on 2007.

Results show a record wheat harvest of 17.5 million tonnes, an increase of 32 per cent on 2007, mainly caused by a record yield of

8.4 tonnes per hectare, combined with a 13 per cent increase in wheat area to 2.1 million hectares. Excellent planting conditions in autumn 2007, as well as strong cereal prices and the reduction to 0 per cent set-aside, contributed to the high wheat area planted.

Initial industry results show that the earlier harvested wheat was generally good quality and that the quality of the barley crop has been generally excellent, with plenty of quality malting grains available, although the heavy rain affected the quality of the later harvest and incurred drying costs

Ms Kennedy said:

"These harvest figures just show the strength of the farming sector we have here in the UK. Despite the big obstacles affecting the global industry, British farmers have made this year’s harvest an unexpected success."

Final figures will be produced towards the end of the year when more survey returns are available.