Alder Bioinsights News Review: Feedstock Issue 154, January 2025

Foreword

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has released provisional cereal and oilseed production estimates for last year harvest in England. The beginning of the English harvest was facilitated by the drier and warmer weather in early August after a very rainy July. While circumstances were drier from mid-September, some areas experienced higher rainfall levels than normal throughout August and September which hindered progress.

The provisional estimate of the 2024 English wheat harvest is 10.0 million tonnes, a decrease of 22% on 2023. This is thought to be due to decreases in both yield and area. The estimate for barley harvest is around 4.9 million tonnes, an increase of 2.7% on 2023. This comprises a 26% decrease in winter barley production offset by a 41% increase in spring barley. Oilseed rape production is estimated to have fallen by 33% to 687 thousand tonnes during last year. This was driven by a 27% decrease in area and a 7.9% decrease in yield. Wheat straw production is estimated to fall by 17% to 2.4 million tonnes, whereas barley straw production is estimated to increase by 12% to 1.7 million tonnes.

The European Commission has released similar figures for 2024 concerning the EU region. The EU oilseed area has been revised downwards by 39,000 hectares to 11.8 million hectares, down 1.3% year-on-year but up 5.9% long-term average…