New Pocketbook Of Agricultural Statistics

There are some interesting statistics in the new Pocketbook on agriculture, forestry and fisheries statistics.

France is the main producer of cereals in the EU28 with 285m tonnes or 24% of the total, Germany produced 16% (45.4m tonnes) and the UK contributed 19.5m tonnes or 7%. France was also the biggest producer of common wheat with 28% of total EU28 production, grain maize (26%) and barley (21%). Germany was the main rye and maslin producer with 43%.

The largest quantity of cow's milk was produced by Germany with 29.7m tonnes or 21% of total EU28 production then France with 24.4m tonnes or 17% and the UK with 13.6m tonnes or 10%. The UK was the biggest producer of drinking milk with 6.9m tonnes or 22% of EU28 production. Germany was the biggest producer of cheese (23%), cream (21%) and butter (23% in the EU28 with France following with 21%, 16% and 20% respectively.

Fall In Wheat Usage, Barley Usage Up

There was a 7% fall in the amount of wheat milled in August 2011 from 511,000 tonnes to 475,000 tonnes. The total amount of flour milled fell by 6.5% in total. The amount of bread flour, cake flour and household flour both increased. Biscuit making flour fell by 0.8%.

Brewers, maltsters and distillers used 149,600 tonnes of barley in August, up 10.5% on the 135,300 tonnes in August 2010. Malting barley accounted for 142,500 tonnes, up 11.5%.

Oats usage was up 2.6% from 111,500 tonnes to 114,400 tonnes. Oats were mainly used for flakes, rolled oats and flour.

Cereal Usage Down In May

The total amount of wheat milled in May 2011 was 535,000 tonnes, down 0.1%. Brewers, maltsters and distillers usage of wheat was down 7% to 47,000 tonnes. The total amount of barley used by brewers, maltsters and distillers was up by 14% to 153,000 tonnes.

The total amount of oats milled in January to March 2011 compared with the same period in 2010 was up 8% to 120,000 tonnes.

Cereal Usage - Wheat, Barley, Oats

Wheat usage amounted to 605,000 tonnes milled, up 9% and 55,000 tonnes going to brewers, maltsters and distillers up 1% according to data from Defra. Barley usage amounted to 158,000 tonnes going to brewers, maltsters and distillers, down 1%. The usage of oats amounted to 120,000 tonnes milled, up 5%.

Defra Releases December Survey Results

Defra recently released statistics from the December Survey as at 2010 giving details of crops and pigs and population estimates of cattle and sheep.

The wheat cropping area remained stable again last year decreasing by 0.5% to 1.8m hectares. Winter oilseed rape areas increased by 12% to 655,000 hectares and the winter barley area decreased by 8.5% to 310,000 hectares. The area of arable land to be left out of production in 2010-11 increased by 9.3% and is 248,000 hectares. The area may change depending on factors like market conditions and the weather. The amount of hay produced in 2010 was 2m tonnes and the grass silage produced amounted to 20.5m tonnes. Silage from other crops totalled 5m tonnes.

On the livestock side, the total number of cattle and calves decreased by 1% to 5.4m. Pigs decreased in number by 1.7% from 3.6m to 3.5m and there were 415,000 breeding pigs. Sheep and lambs remained stable at 9.9m.

Increase In Agricultural Prices

Defra has released the Agricultural Prices Index series for August 2010. The API all products price index for prices received by producers for agricultural products increased from 137.6 in July to 142.0 in August. Cereals prices increased overall from an index of 144.6 to 176.6 with wheat, barley and oats all going up, industrial crops also increased from 157.9 to 163.8 with potato and oilseed rape prices increasing and sugar beet unchanged. Fresh fruit prices also increased but the prices index for fresh vegetables fell from 124.9 to 116.9. The overall crops products index increased from 138.8 to 146.3 but seed and other crop products remained the same. Calf prices fell but cows and bulls increased and cattle increased helping the animal and animal products index increase slightly from 136.6 to 138.2.

Prices paid by producers for agricultural inputs have also increased slightly from an index of 139.7 in July to 141.7 in August 2010. Seed prices and spray prices stayed the same over the month but fertiliser prices increased slightly from 245.1 in July to 248.6 in August. Energy prices increased slightly from 148.1 to 148.5. The cost of animal feedingstuffs increased from an index of 159.9 in July to 164.6 in August 2010 with significant increases in the prices of feed wheat and feed barley. The prices of goods and services of plant and buildings and veterinary services increased slightly overall. There was a slight increase in the price of machinery and equipment and farm buildings prices were unchanged. The index for all means of agricultural production increased by two points from 139.7 to 141.7.

Agriculture's June Survey 2010 Provisional Results

The latest June Survey statistics from Defra show the provisional estimates for land use, crop areas and livestock numbers on agricultural holdings on June 1 2010. They give a good idea of trends but they are provisional and could be subject to amendment at a later date.

The agricultural land area in 2010 was 9.3m hectares. The area on agricultural holdings remained unchanged at 8.9m hectares. Common rough grazing remained unchanged at 428,000 hectares. The arable area also remained more or less unchanged at slightly under 3.8m hectares while to total cropping area increased slightly to 3,915,000 hectares from 3,902,000 hectares in 2009 (revised). All regions increased their wheat area.

The number of cattle increased by 1% to 5.5 million. The total breeding herd was up by 0.9% to 1,916,000. There were 756,000 cattle in the beef herd and 1,160,000 in the dairy breeding herd in 2010.

The number of breeding pigs increased to by 1.4% to 427,000 from 421,000. The number of fattening pigs decreased by 2% to 3.2 million. The female breeding herd numbered 351,000 in 2010 and other breeding pigs increased by 10.7% to 76,000 in 2010 which included 15,000 boars. The total number of pigs decreased by 1.6% to 3,630,000.

The female breeding flock remained unchanged at 6.4 million. The fall in the number of lambs from 7.49 million to 7.24 million was a factor in reducing the total number of sheep to 14.1 million from 14.4 million in 2009.

Shop Price Inflation Down To 1.8%

Shop price inflation fell to 1.8% in May from 2% in April according to the Shop Price Index (SPI) from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Food inflation rose to 2.2% from 2% but non-food inflation fell to 1.6% from 2% in April.

A BRC spokesman said that the fall in the SPI happened despite big rises in some costs. Clothes and electricals are cheaper than last year but the rises in the price of oil are putting pressure on transport costs. Prices are being held down as customers still lack the confidence to spend. Tinned and packet food were the main causes in the rises in food inflation as falls in commodity prices, for products like coffee and wheat, still in the system are being awaited.

December Survey of Agriculture 2009

The December Survey of Agriculture in England 2009 gives data showing the winter crops areas and livestock numbers of agricultural holdings in England as of 1 December 2009.

The area of wheat sown by 1 December 2009 increased by 10.9% on 2008 to 1.8m hectares. The winter OSR area increased by 9% to 589 thousand hectares from 541 thousand hectares and winter barley decreased 4.8% to 342 thousand hectares. Oats and field beans increased to 83 and 88 thousand hectares respectively. The area of arable land intended to be left out of production in 2009/10 is 226 thousand hectares more or less unchanged from 2009.

Hay production increased in 2009 by 6.3% to 2.2m tonnes. Silage production from grass decreased by 2.4% to18.4m tonnes. Silage produced from other crops increased by 4.2% to 4.6m tonnes.

There were a total of 5.5m cattle and calves in England in December 2009. An increase of 1% from 5.4m in 2008. The dairy herd decreased by 1.4% to 1.2m which offset an increase in the beef herd of 1.1% to 731,000. The total breeding herd remained more or less unchanged at 1.9m.

The total number of pigs in England in 2009 increased by 1.3% from 3.7m in 2008 to 3.8m in 2009. The number of breeding pigs increased by 4% to 438,000 in December 2009 from 354,000 in 2008. Fattening pigs increased to 3.3m. The increased numbers may be due partly to lower costs and steady prices which has resulted in amny producers seeing profits.

Sheep and lambs in England decreased by 3.8% to 9.9m in 2009. The female breeding flock decreased by 2.2% to 6.2m continuing a downward trend beginning in 2004. Sheep prices have remained good but supply has been reduced due to the reduction in the size of the breeding flock.

UK Harvest Data 2009

The NFU recently released data concerning the UK 2009 harvest reporting that production is down on the 5-year average by over a million tonnes. It is estimated that this year's wheat harvest will be around 13.9 million tonnes, 3.4 million tonnes lower than last year. The 5-year average for wheat is 15,106 million tonnes, from 1,921 hectares at 7.9 tonnes/hectare. The decrease is due to both lower sowing and lower yields. Farmers planted less cereals and oilseed rape and planted more lower input crops because of difficult autumn planting conditions, high input prices and declining forward prices. Together with drought affecting cereals in England, cereals output was down by 14%. Winter barley is down 300,000 tonnes to 2.5 million tonnes, spring barley is up 440,000 tonnes on last year to 3.8 million tonnes due to lower yields but a significant increase in sowing for 2009. Oilseed rape sowing decreased compared with 2008, but yields increased to give very similar results to last year.