LONDON: Wheat yields in England from this summer's harvest are slightly above average, but production is set to be lower following a sharp decline in planted area, Britain's National Farmers' Union said on Thursday.
The NFU's 2013 Harvest Survey put the wheat yield at 7.8 tonnes per hectares, slightly up on the five-year average of 7.7 tonnes and well above the prior season's 6.7 tonnes.
Area is down 19 percent on last season at 1.51 million hectares after rains wrecked plantings last autumn.
"Farmers worked really hard to get this year's crop up and running, but with planting down by 19 percent, I'm not surprised overall wheat production is down," said NFU combinable crops board chairman Andrew Watts.
"Many arable farmers are still working under the shadow of 2012's appalling weather and the knock-on impact this has had."
England had its wettest year since records began in 2012.
Comments
Comments are closed.