Harvest delivers bumber wheat crop

After a summer of misery there is finally some good news for Shropshire's arable farmers – this year's wheat harvest has been one of the best ever.

Record yields will take the strain off many growers, with high demand forcing prices through the roof. The figures, from the NFU's annual harvest survey and Defra's cereal production survey, show UK grain producers are among the most productive in Europe.

According to NFU estimates for 2008, the UK wheat yield is expected to be up by 17.1 per cent, with production at 17.558 million tonnes – up 32.6 per cent on last year.

Oliver Cartwright, NFU spokesman, said: "Despite the exceptionally difficult harvest, and losses to yield for later harvested crops, 2008 shows what has been achieved by farmers genuinely responding to markets combined with exceptional growing conditions for cereal crops here and abroad.

"Crops were protected from the difficult conditions to a great extent, which re-affirms the importance of research and development and science and technology in increasing food production."

But farmers should make the most of it while they can, as new research from the Royal Agricultural Society of England shows some areas of England may not be fit for productive agriculture in the future because of deteriorating soil quality.

The society said heavy machinery, drier summers and changing growing seasons are all taking their toll on the soil, adding that research tends to focus on environmental issues, rather than growing food.

Professor Dick Godwin, who helped author the report, said that without more research into how soil will adapt to a changing climate, growing food could become more difficult and flooding could increase.

Peter Kendall, NFU president, said: "I look at our growth – production was running at four per cent in the 1980s, two per cent in the 1990s and even the chief scientific officer John Beddington says it's now dropped below one per cent. We need to reverse that."

By Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous