Shropshire harvest hit by wet weather in spring
Wet weather in the spring has left farmers nursing low yields this harvest time, figures from the NFU have revealed.
The results of the union's annual harvest survey show that yields were down on a year ago, with oilseed rape having delivered particularly poor returns for arable farmers.
The NFU has now called for crop research to help British farmers remain competitive in the global marketplace.
NFU combinable crops board chairman Mike Hambly said: "A harvest that has seen lower than average yields should leave all cereals producers concerned, as global competitors with access to new technology and innovation see yields rise.
With 14.2 million tonnes of wheat – a 14.9 per cent fall on last year – and 6.6 million tonnes of barley having been brought in from the fields, the figures are in line with five-year averages.
But the oilseed rape crop area is now in its fifth year of decline and with poor yields, production has been reduced to 1.7m tonnes – a massive 32.5 per cent drop on last year, and well short of the five-year average of 2.5 million tonnes.
Global production has been less severely hampered, however, potentially creating difficulties for UK farmers.
Adrian Joynt, who farms on the Apley Estate near Bridgnorth, is on the union's combinable crops board.
He said local farmers' experiences match the national figures, and said the weather played a major role in the crops' poor performance.
"It's easy to blame the weather," he said, "but If you look back at May and June when winter barley and oilseed rape wanted sunshine, it just wasn't there. It was the wettest June for four or five years, and if it's raining, it's cloudy and there's no sunshine.
"The other cause is if we have a dry winter and spring it encourages crops to put roots down. We didn't have that, we had quite a damp spring and winter."
Spring-planted varieties had performed better, he said, because they needed the sunshine in July, when the country has good weather.
He also said that newer breeds of crop had been intended to improve yields, but that the benefit of those varieties was not showing, and that yields had plateaued over the last 20 years.
Mr Joynt added: "Our year here would reflect what has happened nationally and certainly locally. Talking to neighbours there yield has been no different to ours.
"The survey shows rape and winter barley to be down, and spring barley up. That's similar to our story."
"It is frustrating to know that with research applied in the right way and with access to technology and innovations that competitors use to increase their production and lower their environmental impact, many more acres could be yielding three times the national average now."
