Spring barley surges after weather hits winter crop

The poor weather last autumn was yesterday fingered as one of the main reasons behind a surge in the spring crop area– barleys own this year is up from 244,000 hectares to 256,000 hectares while the acreage of winter barley is down by 18 per cent – but overall the total Scottish barley area has remained static

Gavin Dick, AH DB knowledge exchange manager, said: “Due to the poor autumn drilling conditions in much of Scotland we have seen a fair drop in winter planting and an increase in the spring barley area.

“There are of course regional differences–I certainly seem to see a lot more barley in the Northeast – and our figures show that while the wheat area in the south has decreased this year, in percentage terms we have seen a far bigger drop in wheat plant- ing in the north.” Malting barley varieties with full approval from the malting barley committee for harvest 2018 account for 71 percent of the total Scottish barley area.

This is up from 2017 when varieties with full approval for that harvest accounted for 57 per cent of the area, however those figures should be treated with caution.

“While there seems to be a big change in the proportion of barley grown with full approval this year that is likely largely down to the fact that Laureate was not approved at the beginning of last season, but many farmers grew it as it was recommended, and it did then gain approval later in the year,” said Dick.

Overall the wheat acre - age has seen a marginal decrease, with 106,000 hectares in the ground which is down 3 per cent on last year.

The oilseed rape area has increased by 3 per cent to 35,000 hectares and the oat figures are almost identical to last year at 32,000 hectares. This leaves the S cottish oat area at a historically high level and is above the five year average of 29,000 hectares.