Early indications of spring plantings suggest that the area of tillage crops (winter and spring) has increased by between 1% and 1.5% this year.

Spring barley showed the biggest area increase to push it close to 145,000ha but there were also large increases in spring wheat, oats, beans and oilseed rape.

Growers and the seed trade responded by locking into imported seed

The low planting last backend left certified seed supply very tight for this spring. Growers and the seed trade responded by locking into imported seed of spring wheat and spring beans.

Spring wheat area looks to be up about four-fold, and spring oat area is more than double last year’s area. Spring bean area is estimated to be up by about 40% to 50%. This may leave the area of protein crops somewhere between 10,000ha and 11,000ha.

Spring oilseed rape

Spring oilseed rape area is estimated to be up three-fold but still lower than most recent years, excluding 2018.

Fodder crop area is down, with maize likely to be at least 15% lower and fodder beet is down by around 10%.

There will also be a small area sown to catch crops to repair damaged ground.

Reports indicate that some grass has gone to crops this spring, possibly arising from the obligatory stocking rate reductions in the BEAM scheme.