Accredited official statistics

Cereal and oilseed production in the United Kingdom 2024

Updated 12 December 2024

This release contains the final estimate of UK 2024 cereal and oilseed harvest.

For detailed area, yield and production results by country and regions in England go to the accompanying data set.

Key points

• All the main cereal crops and oilseed rape saw reductions in yields in 2024 compared to 2023 except for oats which saw a 8.6% increase. Overall yields were down on the five year average.

• The final estimate of the 2024 UK wheat harvest is 11.1 million tonnes, a decrease of 20% on 2023. This was driven by an 11% decrease in area and 10% decrease in yield.

• The final estimate of the 2024 UK barley harvest is 7.1 million tonnes, an increase of 1.8% on 2023. This comprises a 24% decrease in winter barley production offset by a 24% increase in spring barley.

• Oat production increased by 19% to 986 thousand tonnes in 2024, driven by increases in both area and yield.

• Oilseed rape production decreased by 32% to 824 thousand tonnes in 2024, driven by decreases in both area and yield.

Section 1: Area, yield, production and straw

Following a very wet July, the drier and warmer weather in early August aided the start of the harvest. Further periods of wet weather disrupted progress in many regions through August into September but drier conditions in mid-September supported progress across the United Kingdom.

1.1 Areas

Figure 1: United Kingdom crop areas between 2004 and 2024

The wheat area saw a decrease of 11%, whereas barley and oats both saw increases in area in 2024, of 5.1% and 9.3% respectively (see Figure 1). Difficult weather conditions in the autumn led to a swing between winter and spring plantings with a 19% increase in the spring barley area and a 15% decrease in winter barley area.

Download the full dataset

1.2 Yields

Figure 2: United Kingdom crop yields between 2004 and 2024

UK main cereal crops and oilseed rape all showed decreases in 2024, except for oats which saw an 8.6% increase (see Figure 2). There was some variation in yields across the UK nations reflecting the different regional challenges.

Download the full dataset

1.3 Production

Figure 3: United Kingdom crop production between 2004 and 2024

The final 2024 UK wheat harvest is 11.1 million tonnes, a decrease of 20% on 2023. This is the smallest wheat harvest since 2020 when wet weather last affected autumn plantings. Area and yield were both below the five-year average, with area down by 11% and the yield down by 10% to 7.3 tonnes per hectare (t/ha). Production was down across all UK nations.

The final 2024 UK barley harvest is 7.1 million tonnes, an increase of 1.8% on 2023. This comprised a 24% decrease in winter barley to 2.4 million tonnes, offset by a 24% increase in spring barley to 4.6 million tonnes. Winter barley yield decreased by 9.8% to 6.4 t/ha and area decreased by 15% to 384 thousand hectares. Spring barley yield increased by 4.1% to 5.7 t/ha and area increased by 19% to 810 thousand hectares.

Oats production increased by 19% on 2023 to 986 thousand tonnes, however this was still below the five-year average. This was driven by increases in both area by 9.3% and yield by 8.6% to 182 thousand hectares and 5.4 t/ha respectively.

Oilseed rape production is 824 thousand tonnes, down by 32% on 2023. Oilseed rape area decreased by 25% and yield decreased by 9.7% to 2.8 t/ha.

Download the full dataset

Straw production data presented in this release relate to England only. Data for the other UK nations are not available.

In 2024, it is estimated that wheat straw production in England fell by 11% to 2.6 million tonnes and oilseed straw production by 2.4% to 40 thousand tonnes compared to 2023, In contrast, barley straw production increased by 9.3% to 1.7 million tonnes, driven by the increase in spring barley production and area. Oat straw production also increased in 2024, rising by 26% to 211 thousand tonnes.

Detailed straw production and end usage data for England are available in the full dataset.

Section 2 Methodology: Final estimates of 2024 UK cereal and oilseed rape production

2.1 England

Results are based on final results from the Cereal and Oilseed Rape Production Survey, a representative sample of cereal and oilseed rape growers across English regions and farm sizes and are based on the valid responses from 2,591 holdings (52% response rate).

The Cereal and Oilseed Rape Production Survey gathers data on production tonnages and moisture content for the various cereal and oilseed rape crops and seeks confirmation of the planted areas for these crops gathered from the June Census of Agriculture and Horticulture.

2.2 Moisture content adjustment

Production was typically standardised to 14.5% moisture content for cereals and 9.0% for oilseed rape but since 2022, following discussions with stakeholders, we agreed that the production data will only be adjusted for farms which have reported moisture content above 14.5% for cereals and 9.0% for oilseed rape. Any production data which has been reported with lower moisture contents has not been adjusted. In an average year this would make little difference to the production total, e.g. in 2021, this new approach would have reduced wheat production by only 0.1%.

This new methodology gives a more representative estimate of the volume of actual crop available for use in the industry.

For detailed moisture content results for England and the English regions go to the accompanying data set

2.3 Changes to survey design

In 2024 Defra stopped collecting winter and spring oilseed rape production data separately and now only gather data for total oilseed rape production. Whilst we continue to sample all oilseed rape growers, fewer holdings now grow spring oilseed rape and as a result there were too few responses to enable us to publish winter and spring oilseed rape production data separately. See Section 2.4 Revisions below for further details.

2.4 Revisions

Area and yield figures

In 2024, England regional areas for 2010 onwards have been replaced with the final breakdowns from the Defra June Survey of Agriculture. Regional yields for England were recalculated as a result, although any changes were very minor. National areas, national yields and all production figures remain unchanged. Going forwards, provisional area splits will continue to be included in this dataset each year to enable provision of regional production estimates. These will be updated once final regional area breakdowns are available. National totals and all production figures will remain unchanged.

Oilseed Rape figures

In 2024, Spring oilseed rape area and production figures for England between 2022 to 2008 were apportioned into the regions, producing regional data at the total oilseed rape level. England results were unchanged and regional yield figures were re-calculated based on these updated regional production and area figures. From 2023 onwards Spring and Winter oilseed rape figures are produced as a combined total oilseed rape figure. An archived version of the Oilseed Rape data remains available, the area data here has not been updated as mentioned above.

For detailed results for England and the English regions go to the accompanying data set.

2.5 Data notes

The cereal production (tonnage) figures include tail corn, cereals still to be harvested for grain, grain to be crimped and cereals intended for seed production. The figures exclude crops which have become unfit for harvesting, carryover stocks from the 2023 harvest, bought in grain and crops harvested as wholecrop for silage.

Straw data presented in this release and accompanying dataset are for England only. Straw data for the other UK nations are not available.

2.6 Wales

No yield data were collected for Wales. The Welsh production figures have been estimated on a regional basis within Wales using the final regional results of the June 2023 Survey, extrapolated to match the June 2024 final results, along with the yields for the English regions bordering Wales. Final results for Wales were published on 21st November 2024 by the Welsh Government on their website.

For further details contact Agricultural & Rural Affairs Statistics, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ (telephone: Cardiff 03000 255049). E-mail: stats.agric@gov.wales

2.7 Scotland

The 2024 final estimates of yield and production are based on land use areas estimated from the Agricultural Census and production data collected through the Cereal Survey.

The 2022 final estimates of yield and production are based on land use areas estimated from Single Application Form (SAF) data returns. A panel of experts from the Scottish cereal industry also provide their final estimates of harvest yields and these are applied to final figures for areas sown.

For further details contact Scottish Government: RESAS Statistics (Agriculture) Email: agric.stats@gov.scot

2.8 Northern Ireland

Yield figures are derived from an annual survey of cereal farms in Northern Ireland. Farms are selected from the census population using a stratified random method. DAERA Farm Account Officers complete a cereal survey questionnaire with each farm selected. The information is collated with mean yields calculated for each cereal type. Cereal yields are then combined with the respective cereal areas from the latest census to derive production figures.

Northern Ireland production figures were carried forward from 2021 to compile the UK final results for 2022. This is due to data not being available at the time of publication in December 2022.

For further details contact DAERAsurveys@daera-ni.gov.uk

2.9 2025 harvest statistics publications

Provisional England results are expected to be published in October 2025, with UK estimates published in December 2025. The definitive publication date will be announced on the research and statistics webpage on gov.uk.

2.10 Feedback

We welcome feedback and any thoughts to improve the publication further. Please send any feedback to: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Section 3: What you need to know about this release

3.1 Contact details

Responsible statistician: Charlotte McGinty

Team: Farming Statistics - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk

Tel: 0300 060 0170

3.2 Accredited official statistics

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. An explanation can be found on the Office for Statistics Regulation website. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2014. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards (see contact details above). Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:

• Reviewed and amended the validation checks carried out on response data including validation against new administrative data sources to better assure ourselves of the quality of the statistics.
• Enhanced trustworthiness by removing pre-release access.