The results of the NFU's harvest survey, published today, suggests the average wheat yield for the UK harvest 2014 reached a record high this year, following a summer of near perfect growing conditions for the crop.

Poor weather in 2012 resulted in the UK becoming a net importer of wheat for the first time in 20 years. This has remained the case moving into the 2014-15 marketing year, though the prospect of record yields this year will likely reverse the trend.

The NFU predicts that average yields in the 2014 UK Wheat harvest weigh in at over 8.6 tonnes per hectare, the largest ever and 16 per cent more than 2013 – the biggest uplift in 30 years.

The union claims that, although the country experienced perfect growing conditions this summer, the wettest winter and third warmest spring on record led to high disease pressure in crops.

NFU's combinable crops board chair Mike Hambly said, "This year’s wheat harvest shows how dependent crop yield is on the weather and, as extreme weather events become more frequent, how we as farmers can cope with this."

NFU is lobbying in Europe for more lax rules on agricultural chemicals, after a number of protection products have been removed or subjected to restrictions in recent years. Hambly claimed disease was only kept at bay in 2014 thanks to the availability of crop protection products.

He said, "We are at the mercy of the weather but fungicides and insecticides are essential tools allowing us to protect our crops in adverse weather. Many of these are under threat from EU Commission regulation and as this legislation hits, in turn, will compromise both the quality and potential yield of wheat."

"If farmers are going to rise to the challenge of producing food amidst climate change and the weather volatility that comes with it, then we need to be allowed to use the most effective active ingredients for the job. Research needs government interest and investment so we can grow crops resilient to all weather conditions."

The Commission maintains that its decisions on certain pesticides have been taken in light of mounting evidence of their effects on the environment, and their potential impacts on public health. In many cases, the extent of these impacts remains unknown, according to independent scientists.