Defra have released provisional estimate for land use, crop areas and livestock populations on agricultural holdings in the UK and the size of the UK cereals and oilseed rape harvest for 2017.

Results are not yet available for poultry, horses, goats, farmed deer, camelids and labour numbers.

These will be published with the final results, provisionally scheduled for 21 December 2017. Wales do not produce provisional results. Therefore, crop areas and livestock numbers for 2016 (with the exception of cattle) have been carried forward for Wales to allow UK totals to be calculated for 2017.

The key results are as follows:

Agricultural land and arable crop areas

The total utilised agricultural area (UAA) in the UK has increased by 0.6% to almost 17.5 million hectares. The area of total crops has increased by 1.6%, helping to offset the 7.8% decrease in uncropped arable land.

Crop yields and production

Wheat: UK wheat yields increased by 7.3%, rising from 7.9 tonnes per hectare in 2016 to 8.5 tonnes per hectare in 2017. This helped to offset the reduction in area planted, and resulted in an increase in UK provisional wheat production of 5.4% to 15.2 million tonnes.

Barley: The UK barley yield also increased, rising by 5.4% from 5.9 tonnes per hectare in 2016 to 6.3 tonnes per hectare in 2017. The provisional production estimate for 2017 is 7.4 million tonnes. Winter planted barley saw a 3.6% decrease in area, however strong yields resulted in production estimates for winter planted barley rising 7.3% to 3 million tonnes. The spring planted barley area increased by 10%, and combined with a small increase in yield this meant that production grew 13% to 4.3 million tonnes.

Oats: Areas of oats had the largest proportional increase of the major cereal crops rising by 14% to 161 thousand hectares. The yield increased marginally, resulting in an estimated production increase of 14% to 0.9 million tonnes in 2017.

Oilseed Rape: The provisional oilseed rape harvest has shown an increase of 23% to 2.2 million tonnes in 2017. There was a fall of 2.8% in the planted area, however the total oilseed rape yield increased by 26%, from 3.1 tonnes per hectare in 2016 to 3.9 tonnes per hectare in 2017. This is a return to similar yields seen in 2015.

Horticultural crops: In 2017 the total area of horticultural crops increased by 3.4% to 167 thousand hectares. Vegetables and salad for human consumption make up the majority (70%) of this area and increased by 4.0% to 117 thousand hectares in 2017.

Livestock: The total number of cattle and calves in the UK is 10 million in 2017. The female breeding herd accounts for over a third of the total cattle and stands at almost 3.5 million head in 2017.

Fattening pigs increased by 2.2% in 2017 and along with a small increase of 0.5% in the female breeding herd, the total number of pigs rose by 2.0% to almost 5.0 million.

In 2017, the number of lambs in the UK increased by 1.9% to 17.2 million and the female breeding flock increased by 2.0%. This led to a total UK sheep and lamb population of 34.6 million, Estimates for poultry, horses, goats, farmed deer and camelids will be included in the final publication provisionally scheduled for 21 December 2017.

Agricultural workforce:The total number of people working on agricultural holdings will be included in the final publication provisionally scheduled for 21 December 2017.

Key country level changes

The table below shows how the UK percentage change for certain items compares to the country level changes. Although all countries are showing a decrease in wheat area, the decrease seen in the wheat area in England has driven the larger UK level change. This is due to the largest proportion of this crop (92%) being grown in England.

Note: Wales do not produce provisional results for crop areas or livestock numbers. Therefore 2016 figures for Wales are used to calculate provisional UK totals for 2017.

For more detailed analysis click visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/

file/651173/structure-jun2017prov-UK-12oct17.pdf