The harvest for cereals amounted to 4.3 million tonnes this year. This is nearly 1 million tonnes less than the total harvest of last year. The decrease is because the result per hectare was lower than normal, especially for the autumn sown cereal crops.
Besides the weather, another contributing reason is that the cultivated area for cereals decreased by 7 percent. The total harvest for cereals is the lowest since 2006. The statistics are based on a preliminary estimate from information given by 1 000 farmers.
The weather has been unfavourable in several different ways. The long snowy winter led to problems with winter killing of the autumn sown crops. The spring was cold and rainy and the spring sowing was delayed in many areas. The summer that followed was warm and very dry. Heavy rain occurred in the middle of August, thus involving delays and difficulties with the harvest.
The total harvest of rape/turnip rape decreased despite increased cultivation
The total harvest of rape and turnip rape is estimated at roughly 281 000 tonnes, which is 6 percent less than last year's harvest. However, this is an increase of 17 percent compared to the five-year average. The decrease compared to last year is due to this year's low yield levels per hectare. Cultivation of autumn rape increased by 7 percent and the spring rape area increased by 17 percent compared to the previous year.
Low yields per hectare of peas and field beans also
The total harvest of peas is preliminarily estimated at slightly more than 54 000 tonnes and the harvest of field beans is about 31 000 tonnes. These figures are 11 and 17 percent more than in 2009, respectively. The cultivated areas of peas and field beans increased by nearly 40 and slightly more than 60 percent respectively, but the crop yields per hectare were 20 and 29 percent lower than last year's levels.