Cereal and oilseed rape harvest - first estimates: 2018

Spring barley yield and production expected to fall

Estimates for the 2018 harvest suggest spring barley yield and total production will fall compared to 2017.

Yield is likely to be lower by 10 per cent compared to the previous year and overall production will fall by seven per cent.

Advice from industry experts suggests this decline is due to poor performance of spring barley sown earlier in the year, while crops that were planted after the heavy snow storm, dubbed ‘The Beast from the East’, did better.

Spring barley accounts for 49% Total crop production and 55% Total crop area

Barley is the main cereal crop grown in Scotland. In 2017, Scottish spring barley made up a third of the UK spring barley total.

Spring barley is sown around March, whereas winter barley is sown in the autumn. Around 82 per cent of Scottish barley production is made up of spring barley.