As farmers and the wider industry tackle the fodder deficit, the Irish Farmers Journalhas gathered exclusive data on cereal production, which estimates that yields have fallen in 2026.
The data places cereal production at 2.08m tonnes at average moisture contents and when corrected to 20% moisture content it brings it up to 2.19m tonnes. This is below last year’s figure of 2.23m tonnes and above the five-year average of 2.16m tonnes.
Some crops really disappointed. Winter barley yields reported ranged from 2.5t/ac to 4.7t/ac. Winter barley was harvested at the beginning of the heatwave in July and the average moisture content was 14.7% which hit the weight, but yields were challenged by wet and cold spring weather, as well as virus and take-all.
Winter wheat disappointed for some, with yields as low as 2.8t/ac reported. Take-all and virus were issues once again and the dry weather likely cut potential from the crop. Oats remained consistent in yields, but markets are low for the crop.
Spring barley surprised many farmers. It had a short growing season on many farms at three and half or four months.
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