Scottish cereal farmers enjoyed a record harvest in 2022, according to the Scottish Government’s chief statistician.

Figures released this week showed that the total cereal yield was at a 20-year high, with spring barley recording the best improvement on the year with a national average of 6.8t/h in 2022. Total cereal production increased by 10% from 2.9m tonnes in 2021 to 3.1m tonnes. Despite a small reduction in sown area, levels for cereal production were the highest since 2014.

Prolonged hot and dry conditions in spring and summer favoured a remarkably early finish and low moisture levels and meant that the above average yields in 2022 more than compensated for a small decrease in the overall sown area of cereals.

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This decrease was largely driven by reductions in spring barley and oats. The sown area of spring barley fell by 5% from 2021, yet higher yields resulted in a 17% rise in production. Oats were the only crop to fall in production.

Winter barley, wheat and oilseed rape increased in sown area. Coupled with the best yields reported in the last 20 years, production for these crops exceeded the 10-year average. High yield, combined with a 7% increase in sown area, resulted in record production for oilseed rape at 151,000 tonnes.

The Scottish average yield for spring barley was 6.8t/ha which produced a total production of 1,605,000 tonnes, which was up 10% on the year. Yield ranged from 6.2t/ha in the Highlands and Islands to 7.2t/ha in eastern Scotland.

The area with the best improvement on the year was West Central Scotland which saw average spring barley yields jump from 5.8t/ha to 7.15t/ha for the 1263 ha grown. The North-east of Scotland was still the biggest area for spring barley, with 86,572 ha grown to an average of 6.7t/ha.

Winter barley yields for Scotland averaged 8.2t/ha and produced a total of 361,853 tonnes, which was up 11% on the year. The Eastern region had the best yield at 8.3t/h on average. Highlands and Islands had the lowest yield at 7.9t/ha, however this was the biggest improved area on the year with a jump of 12% in yield.

Scotland’s wheat crop averaged 9.3t/ha which produced over 1m tonnes of grain, 12% more than last year. Eastern Scotland grew by far the most wheat with nearly 60,000 ha harvested this year to an average of 9.5t/ha, which represented a rise of 16%. Next was southern Scotland which grew 28,181 ha to average 9.3t/ha, which was up 6%. Interestingly, the North-east’s yield dropped 1% to 9.08t/ha for the 16,261 ha grown.

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Oat planting was back 20% across Scotland, leading to 9% less crop on the market with 171,000 tonnes harvested. West Central and Eastern Scotland both recorded a 17% jump in yield to 6.6t/ha and 6.7t/ha, respectively. However, Highlands and Islands recorded a drop of 4% in yield to 5t/ha for the 3745 ha grown.

It was a good year for oilseed rape as 19% more crop was harvested due to higher yields and a bigger area. The production of more than 150,000 tonnes had not been seen in Scotland since 2015.

The best average yield was in Eastern Scotland, with 4.46t/ha, which represented a rise of 23% on the year for the 14,067 ha grown. The average yield in Southern Scotland dropped by 3% to 4.1t/ha, which meant it dropped from first to third place behind the North-east.