SCOTLAND'S cereal production and the area of cereals grown decreased in 2018, according to the final 2018 harvest estimates released this week.

Around 420,000 hectares of cereals were grown this year, 3% lower than 2017. This drop in area, combined with a 9% decrease in yield, led to a 12% drop in production, to 2.5 million tonnes.

This was all down to the unfavourable weather conditions experienced in winter 2017, as well as spring and early summer of 2018, which were particularly bad for barley and wheat crops, resulting in a number of farmers choosing to whole-crop due to the low yield and quality.

New figures released by Scotland’s Chief Statistician showed that spring barley, Scotland’s main cereal crop, experienced a fall in yield of 6% and production fell by 3%. Although the area of spring barley increased by 3%, yields and production were down due to the bad weather during the last year.

Winter barley was also affected by the poor weather, with area dropping by a fifth. This, along with a 4% drop in yield resulted in production decreasing by 24%. This was the lowest production tonnage since 1993 and the lowest area since records started in 1982.

Wheat production has decreased, due to area grown decreasing by 9% and the yield decreasing by 16%. Oats and oilseed rape also saw reductions in area, yield and production over the last year.