Cereal and oilseed rape harvest - first estimates: 2017

5. Oats

The majority of oats grown in Scotland are used for milling and further processing for breakfast cereals, oatcakes, porridge oats and oatmeal for secondary processing outwith Scotland. The majority of the remainder is used as specialist feed for horses.

Oats Estimates ( charts 13 and 14)

Oat production is estimated to have increased by eight per cent this year due to a five per cent increase in area grown and a three per cent increase in yield. Production has been clearly increasing in recent years, with tonnages in the last two years and 2013 considerably above average. This year's estimate would be the highest since the fall in oat production in the 1970s. Spring oats make up over two thirds of oat production.

This year's average yield is estimated at 6.65 tonnes per hectare, the highest on record, and applied to the highest area since 1989. The increase in yield is in line with the general increasing trend in oat yields, which has seen a seven per cent increase in the average for the last ten years, compared to the previous decade.

Chart 13 - Oats: Area, Yield and Production

Chart 14 - Oats Year-on-Year Change: Area, Yield and Production