Total wheat plantings were up 1 per cent in Great Britain in 2011, according to the latest Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) Planting and Variety Survey. Furthermore, oilseed rape increased by 9 per cent and barley by 2 per cent.

Senior analyst Jack Watts said, "Following last year's increase of 14 percent in the oilseed rape area, we have seen another 9 percent increase in the plantings for harvest 2011 indicating the strong profitability for the crop at the time of planting."

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) Market Intelligence team conducted the survey of the 2011 crop, which showed British wheat plantings increased from a total area of 1.923 million hectares (ha) to 1.941 m ha. The 696,000 ha covered by rapeseed represents the largest UK crop ever recorded.

Group 3 plantings (soft wheat varieties used for biscuits and cakes) in Great Britain increased 4 per cent, while there was no change in the total area used for GB Group 1 plantings (varieties used for milling and baking), which remained at 17% of total plantings. Group 4 wheat varieties (mainly grown as feed wheats) increasing from 51per cent in 2010 to 54 per cent of UK wheat, which suggests recent market price rises have affected variety choice.

AHDB’s cereals and oilseeds senior analyst Jack Watts, who managed the surveys, commented on the results, “This increase in wheat production, coupled with a 4% rise in the spring barley planting indicates that Scotland can go some way towards compensating drought-lost production in England, but a lot will depend on the conditions at harvest.”

Watts added, “Although milling varieties still remain important in some regions, levels of interest in Group 4 varieties are continuing to rise, indicating that growers are looking to maximise yields and capitalise on high prices.”

HGCA officials pointed out that results do not cover Northern Ireland and are therefore not directly comparable with data for the UK as a whole.