UK: Poor autumn conditions see a rise in spring cropping for harvest 2024

Earlier today, AHDB published the provisional release of the AHDB Early Bird Survey (EBS) of early plantings and planting Intentions for harvest 2024. The survey was carried out in early November 2023 with data collected up to 09 November. This survey gives a first look at early plantings plus planting intentions in the UK for wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape, as well as some insight into what we can expect from other crops too. The key takeaways from the survey are expected declines in winter wheat, winter barley and winter oilseed rape (WOSR) areas on the year due to the poor autumn conditions, but a rise in spring wheat, spring barley, oats, fallow and other arable crop areas. The rain has been less persistent than in 2019, the last year when poor weather hampered drilling in a national and significant way. However, the intensity of rain this year in some regions left some growers with problems they have not experienced for several years. However, given the challenges faced ...