AgroPages-UK crop area down 0.6% in 2015-Agricultural news

The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs of UK (Defra) recently released Farming Statistics report which contains the final estimates of crop areas on commercial agricultural holdings in England on 1 June 2015.

Agricultural land use and ownership

The utilised agricultural area (UAA) in England decreased by 0.6% between 2014 and 2015 and now stands at 8.9 million hectares. The total croppable area accounts for just over half (54%) of UAA and remained almost unchanged at 4.8 million hectares in 2015. Permanent grassland accounts for an additional 41% of UAA and was 3.7 million hectares in 2015.

Crops

The total area of arable crops decreased by 0.9%, falling from 3.9 million hectares in 2014 to 3.8 million hectares in 2015. This resulted in an overall decrease of 0.6% in the area of total crops.

Cereals and oilseed crops account for the majority (84%) of the total arable crop area. Both of these areas decreased between 2014 and 2015, falling by 2.3% and 3.0% respectively. The decrease in the total cereals area was due to a 5.8% reduction in the area of wheat planted in June 2015, which now stands at 1.7 million hectares. In contrast barley has increased by 5.6%, with winter barley seeing the largest area of the crop sown since 2003 at 376 thousand hectares in 2015.

The area of horticultural crops accounts for 150 thousand hectares of land and has increased by 7.5% in 2015. This was driven mainly by the 6.6% increase in the area used to grow vegetables and salad for human consumption, which accounts for 70% of the total horticultural area.

Cereals and oilseeds

The total areas of cereal and oilseed crops both decreased in 2015, falling by 2.3% and 3.0% respectively. Favourable weather conditions suggests these changes may be driven by economic and agronomic trends resulting in evolving cropping patterns including intensive wheat and oilseed rotations.

The area of wheat has fluctuated between approximately 1.5 and 2.0 million hectares over the past 30 years. The area of wheat decreased by 5.8% between 2014 and 2015 and now stands at just under 1.7 million hectares. Despite the decrease in area, wheat continues to be the most popular crop grown in England.

In contrast, the total barley area saw an increase of 5.6%, rising from 709 thousand hectares in 2014 to 748 thousand hectares in 2015. Both spring and winter barley saw increases of 7.9% and 3.5% respectively. The 2015 area of winter barley is the largest area of the crop planted since 2003.

Increases maybe due to both winter and spring sown barley being used for black-grass management and the earlier harvest time of winter sown barley allowing good opportunity to drill winter oilseed. The ratio between winter and spring sown barley is now a 50/50 split.

The total area of oilseed rape fell for the third year running, decreasing by 3.3% from 632 thousand hectares in 2014 to 611 thousand hectares in 2015. Both spring and winter sown areas of oilseed decreased, falling by 53% and 2.2% respectively. Several factors may have contributed to the changes including low market prices and the increasing risks of growing the crop.

Fruit and vegetables

The total area of orchards and small fruit in 2015 increased by 10% to 33 thousand hectares compared to June 2014. Orchards account for 72% of this total and cover 24 thousand hectares in 2015.

The remaining area of 9.1 thousand hectares is used to grow small fruit. Figure 4 shows the breakdown of small fruit areas in 2015. The largest proportion of the small fruit area is used to grow strawberries (36%) with blackcurrants being the next most common small fruit crop (23%).

The area used to grow vegetables for human consumption also showed an increase between 2014 and 2015, up by 6.6% to 104 thousand hectares. The majority (66%) of this area is used to grow other vegetables and salad and this area increased by 7.5% to 69 thousand hectares in 2015. The second largest area is vining peas which increased by 4.8% to 28 thousand hectares.