The 2023 cereal harvest expected to be the third smallest in the 2000s
This autumn’s cereal harvest is expected to total 2.9 million tons, a fifth smaller than in the previous year. In particular, the barley harvest will be smaller than normal at roughly a billion kilos. This is the smallest harvest since the 1970s, similarly to the 2021 harvest.
The total barley harvest will be a third, the wheat harvest almost a tenth and the turnip rape and rapeseed harvest a quarter smaller than the average harvests during the last ten years.
“The downward trend in harvests illustrates the impact of this summer’s weather on plant growth. The sunny and dry early summer, combined with the recent rains, had a negative impact on crop production,” says Anneli Partala, Senior Statistician at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).
Oat and barley harvests almost identical
For long, oat was the most cultivated cereal in Finland. In the history of the statistics, oat produced the largest harvests in 1920–1976. Barley cultivation expanded rapidly in the 1970s, passing oat as the most productive crop. For the last 50 years, barley has been the most cultivated cereal in Finland. The annual barley harvest exceeded two billion kilos in the peak years 2005–2008. This year’s barley harvest is expected to be down to half of the peak level at slightly more than a million tons.
“This autumn’s oat harvest is estimated at a million tons, a couple of per cent smaller than the ten-year average, being at a fairly normal level. No similar drop has been seen in oat and wheat areas during the last ten years as in the barley area. Currently, the wheat harvest is estimated at 770,000 tons,” Partala says.
For rye, our fourth most cultivated cereal, the harvest is estimated at roughly 100,000 tons, a fifth higher than the ten-year average. This year’s rye area was a tenth larger than normal.
A record-high pea harvest expected
The food and feed pea area started to increase five years ago. The cultivation area increased fourfold, passing other crops one at a time: sugar beet, potato, caraway, rye and turnip rape. This year’s pea harvest is expected to exceed a hundred million kilos over an area of more than 40,000 hectares.
In addition to food and feed peas, garden peas are grown in Finland over an area of some 5,000 hectares. The majority of the harvest is used to make frozen peas.
How are the statistics compiled?
Luke’s harvest estimates for the crop production statistics are based on estimates supplied by specialists at local ProAgria Rural Advisory Centres and reflect the situation on 18 September. The estimates for each municipality are based on visual observations and local expertise. Cultivation areas are obtained from the data systems of the Finnish Food Authority’s administrative body of rural industries. The crop production statistics will be expanded and further specified on 24 November, when Luke will publish regional crop production data based on data obtained directly from farms.
