England suffers worst cereal and oilseed harvest in over 40 years

England has recorded its smallest combined cereal and oilseed rape harvest in a historical series dating back to 1984, as extreme heat and drought damage crop production and put further pressure on farm incomes.

New provisional figures published by Defra on Thursday 8 October show sharp declines in barley and oat production, with analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) putting England's combined harvest at just 16.03 million tonnes.

That is below the previous low of 16.16 million tonnes recorded in 2020, making 2026 the worst year in the organisation's 43-year historical comparison. Four of the five smallest harvests in the series have now occurred since 2020, following repeated periods of extreme weather.

The findings follow an exceptionally hot and dry growing season, with limited rainfall in April, successive heatwaves during early summer and the driest July on record in England and Wales.

Defra acknowledged that hot weather and insufficient rainfall hampered crop development, despite favourable drilling and planting conditions during autumn 2025.

Barley was among the hardest-hit crops, with production falling 11% to 3.7 million tonnes, its lowest level since 2012. Spring barley suffered particularly badly, recording a 23% decline, while winter barley output increased by just 1.7%.

Oat production also dropped sharply, falling 29% to 527,000 tonnes, its lowest level in 14 years. The decline reflected both a 21% reduction in planted area and an 11% fall in average yields, which slipped to 4.1 tonnes per hectare.

Wheat production, meanwhile, edged up 0.8% to 10.8 million tonnes despite a smaller planted area. Average yields improved to 7.2 tonnes per hectare, although they remained below the ten-year average of 7.9 tonnes.

Oilseed rape provided one of the few positive results, with output surging 43% to around one million tonnes. This was largely driven by a 36% expansion in planted area alongside improved yields, although the recovery was insufficient to offset the wider decline in cereal production.

Tom Lancaster, farming analyst at the ECIU, said the latest figures demonstrated the damaging impact of extreme weather on English agriculture.

"For many farmers, this summer has been the worst in living memory. Unprecedented early summer heat, the driest July on record and a dry April combined to desiccate cereal crops, driving down yields and with them farm incomes."

Lancaster warned that the frequency of poor harvests was becoming increasingly concerning, with four of the five worst years in the historical series occurring since 2020.

"Confirmation of 2026 as England’s worst cereal harvest on record means that four of the five worst harvests have now occurred since 2020 following extreme weather.

"Climate change is now undermining the very fundamentals of our food security, a fact that should create more urgency to reduce emissions to net zero and bring our climate back into balance."

Although the difficult growing season affected much of England, Defra's figures revealed significant regional differences, with northern growing areas generally performing better than those further south.

Yorkshire and the Humber recorded a 6.5% increase in wheat production, while the North East achieved the highest average wheat yield at 8.4 tonnes per hectare. In contrast, wheat production declined in the South East, South West and East of England, highlighting the uneven impact of growing conditions.

Martin Lines, a Cambridgeshire arable farmer and chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), also warned that the figures should serve as a wake-up call for politicians and the food supply chain.

He argued that increasingly unpredictable weather made it essential to improve the resilience of British farming, particularly through healthier soils, better water retention and reduced reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs.

Building soil organic matter and improving the ability of farmland to retain moisture, he said, would help farmers withstand future periods of drought and extreme rainfall while maintaining productive agricultural businesses.

Lancaster echoed the need for greater support, warning that farmers would require assistance to adapt to the effects of rising temperatures and more extreme weather.

"Farmers will also need more support in the short term to adapt to the inevitable impacts baked in to projected warming, making green farming schemes such as England’s Sustainable Farming Incentive vital to the resilience of English food production."

The latest findings are likely to intensify debate over the future of agricultural support, particularly as growers face the financial consequences of several difficult seasons while preparing for the 2027 harvest.

The ECIU's historical ranking compares combined production volumes for wheat, winter and spring barley, oats and oilseed rape, rather than yields for individual crops. For years before 1999, the organisation reconstructed English production estimates using UK yields and English crop areas.

The historical ranking is therefore an independent analysis of Defra's production data, rather than a classification directly published by the department.

Defra's provisional 2026 figures are based on valid survey responses from around 1,500 farms across England, with final UK-wide harvest estimates due on 10 December.

Those figures will provide a fuller picture of the year's production across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as attention turns to the pressures facing growers ahead of next season.