Written question asked by Tom Blenkinsop (Labour) on Friday, 12 October 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 October 2012. It was answered by David Heath (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 18 October 2012 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Wheat

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of wheat yields in the UK; and whether he has made any assessment of the causes of any change in yield.

[122956]

Answer

The provisional UK 2012 wheat yield figure was published as part of the Statistical Notice on UK agriculture and horticulture, and cereals and oilseed rape production on 15 October 2012.

The provisional UK yield of wheat for 2012 was 6.7 tonnes/hectare which is 13.8% lower than the 2011 yield of 7.7 tonnes per hectare. Yields were variable across the English regions. The highest yield of 7.3 tonnes per hectare was found in the eastern region and the lowest yield was in the north-west and Merseyside at 4.8 tonnes per hectare. With the exception of the eastern region, there has been a notable decrease in yield. The difficult weather this year led to high levels of disease during spring and summer combined with low sunlight levels during the grainfill period were the main reasons for the lower wheat yields.

The full Statistical Notice is at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/files/defra-stats-foodfarm-landuselivestock-farmingstats-june-statsrelease-jun2012ukprovcrops-1210151.pdf.

Final figures are due to be published on 20 December.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 122956; 551 cc384-5W
Session: 2012-13
Subjects: Crops Agriculture Wheat
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Wheat

Secondary information

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