Rural Payments and Services

The Chief Statistician has today released first estimates of the 2023 Scottish harvest.

The figures predict that cereal production will remain in line with the ten-year average despite significant challenges during the year, including high input costs and poor weather condition. Total cereal production is expected to be around 3.0 million tonnes.

Early estimates for yields of barley, oats and oilseed rape are below 2022 levels, but similar to the ten-year averages. The predicted yield for wheat is also below last year’s figure, but is still higher than the ten-year average. However, industry experts reported farmers are noticing varying quality in the spring barley harvest due to poor weather conditions.

The report includes provisional 2023 crop area estimates. On the whole, total area of cereals grown in Scotland are predicted to be close to the 2022 figures, with a decrease in the area of oats grown and an increase in the oilseed rape area.

Background

Reassuring harvest predicted despite challenges - full press release (gov.scot)