Given the lateness of spring 2018 it was inevitable that many cropping plans declared in the BPS applications that were completed early were altered to some degree by the passage of time. Given that such applications could be officially changed up to the end of May it is hardly surprising that the second estimate of crop areas for 2018 is different to what was declared in the initial provisional results.

The most recent revised data on BPS applications show that the total cereals area is down roughly 8,500ha on last year, half of what the initial provisional figures indicated. It would seem that the bulk of this area reduction was transferred to fodder crops, with maize up over 6,000ha plus an additional 1,600ha sown to beet.

These figures also put the total area declared as protein crops at 8,395ha, which is 4,633.1ha lower than last year. As this is significantly lower than the 12,000ha on which aid is payable, the suggested protein crop aid for 2018 looks to be around €355/ha.

The areas sown to winter and spring wheat are both down, with over 8,000 fewer hectares for this harvest.

Winter barley area is down almost 7,000ha but spring barley is up over 13,000ha, even more than the original area estimate, because it was the default crop. Spring barley area is 11.8% higher than in 2017 at 124,241ha. This leaves total barley area up 3.5% at 180,655ha or over 6,190ha higher.

The total area sown to oats is down 27.2% or 6,465.4ha. There were only slight changes to the areas sown to triticale and rye.

While the total area sown to cereals is down 3.2% or 8,562ha, the area available for harvest will be even lower due to the huge increase in wholecrop harvesting. This could be well over 5,000ha in the case of wheat and at least 2,000 to 4,000ha for barley. As expected, the revised area sown to maize is up 53% on 2017 with an additional 6,065ha in the ground. Before the adjusted figures the maize area increase had been put at 40%. And the initial increase in fodder beet area of 9% is now calculated to be almost 17%, with an additional 1,590ha in the ground.

The area sown to oilseed rape is up 6.4% as a result of an increase in winter plantings. And the total area sown to potatoes is down 8% as a result of a decrease in maincrop plantings mainly.