| Production | Cereals | Potatoes |
| '000 tonnes | ||
| 2015 | 2,634 | 360 |
| 2016 | 2,311 | 352 |
| % change | -12.3 | -2.3 |
Overall production of the three main cereals (wheat, oats and barley) decreased by 12.3% (-323,000 tonnes) to 2,311,000 tonnes in 2016. The total area under cereals decreased by 11,200 hectares (-3.8%) to 280,300 hectares and overall cereal yield decreased by 8.7% to 8.2 tonnes per hectare. Total barley production decreased by 14.9% (-259,000 tonnes) in 2016. See Tables 1- 3.
The yield of potatoes decreased by 7.9% from 42.3 tonnes per hectare in 2015 to 38.9 tonnes per hectare in 2016 while the area under potatoes increased by 6.1%. This resulted in a drop in production of 8,000 tonnes (-2.3%) to 352,000 tonnes.
Further comparisons with the 2015 results show that:
| Winter Wheat | Spring Wheat | Winter Oats | Spring Oats | Winter Barley | Spring Barley | Beans and Peas | Oilseed Rape | Potatoes | |
| 2009 | 553 | 137 | 71 | 74 | 164 | 1063 | 22 | 24 | 336 |
| 2010 | 532 | 137 | 80 | 68 | 245 | 978 | 25 | 28 | 420 |
| 2011 | 793 | 136 | 71 | 98 | 326 | 1086 | 16 | 56 | 356 |
| 2012 | 626 | 82 | 68 | 88 | 320 | 941 | 20 | 59 | 232 |
| 2013 | 422 | 123 | 43 | 149 | 342 | 1321 | 23 | 49 | 410 |
| 2014 | 663 | 54 | 88 | 62 | 559 | 1172 | 20 | 34 | 383 |
| 2015 | 610 | 86 | 105 | 93 | 712 | 1027 | 69 | 40 | 360 |
| 2016 | 587 | 60 | 110 | 73 | 644 | 836 | 71 | 34 | 352 |
| Table 1 Area under Crops | |||||
| Description | June 2014 | June 2015 | June 2016 | Change 2015 - 2016 | |
| ' 000 hectares | ' 000 hectares | % | |||
| Wheat - total | 71.6 | 65.3 | 67.9 | 2.6 | 4.0 |
| Winter wheat | 65.1 | 55.3 | 60.4 | 5.1 | 9.3 |
| Spring wheat | 6.5 | 10.1 | 7.5 | -2.5 | -25.3 |
| Oats - total | 18.6 | 23.4 | 23.2 | -0.2 | -1.0 |
| Winter oats | 10.1 | 11.4 | 13.2 | 1.9 | 16.6 |
| Spring oats | 8.5 | 12.1 | 10.0 | -2.1 | -17.5 |
| Barley - total | 215.7 | 202.8 | 189.2 | -13.6 | -6.7 |
| Winter barley | 60.1 | 69.8 | 74.6 | 4.9 | 7.0 |
| Spring barley | 155.6 | 133.0 | 114.6 | -18.4 | -13.9 |
| Wheat, oats, barley - total | 305.9 | 291.6 | 280.3 | -11.2 | -3.8 |
| Beans and peas | 3.5 | 10.7 | 12.5 | 1.8 | 17.1 |
| Oilseed rape | 9.4 | 8.9 | 9.9 | 1.0 | 10.8 |
| Potatoes | 9.5 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 0.5 | 6.1 |
| Table 2 Yield of Crops | |||||
| Description | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Change 2015 - 2016 | |
| tonnes per hectare | tonnes per hectare | % | |||
| Wheat - total | 10.0 | 10.7 | 9.5 | -1.1 | -10.6 |
| Winter wheat | 10.2 | 11.0 | 9.7 | -1.3 | -11.9 |
| Spring wheat | 8.3 | 8.6 | 8.0 | -0.6 | -6.8 |
| Oats - total | 8.0 | 8.4 | 7.9 | -0.5 | -6.4 |
| Winter oats | 8.7 | 9.2 | 8.3 | -0.9 | -9.6 |
| Spring oats | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.3 | -0.4 | -4.9 |
| Barley - total | 8.0 | 8.6 | 7.8 | -0.8 | -8.8 |
| Winter barley | 9.3 | 10.2 | 8.6 | -1.6 | -15.4 |
| Spring barley | 7.5 | 7.7 | 7.3 | -0.4 | -5.6 |
| Wheat, oats, barley - total | 8.5 | 9.0 | 8.2 | -0.8 | -8.7 |
| Beans and peas | 5.7 | 6.5 | 5.7 | -0.8 | -13.0 |
| Oilseed rape | 3.6 | 4.5 | 3.5 | -1.0 | -22.8 |
| Potatoes | 40.5 | 42.3 | 38.9 | -3.3 | -7.9 |
| Table 3 Production of Crops | |||||
| Description | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Change 2015 - 2016 | |
| ' 000 tonnes | ' 000 tonnes | % | |||
| Wheat - total | 717 | 697 | 648 | -49 | -7.0 |
| Winter wheat | 663 | 610 | 587 | -23 | -3.7 |
| Spring wheat | 54 | 86 | 60 | -26 | -30.3 |
| Oats - total | 150 | 198 | 183 | -14 | -7.3 |
| Winter oats | 88 | 105 | 110 | 6 | 5.3 |
| Spring oats | 62 | 93 | 73 | -20 | -21.5 |
| Barley - total | 1,731 | 1,739 | 1,480 | -259 | -14.9 |
| Winter barley | 559 | 712 | 644 | -68 | -9.5 |
| Spring barley | 1,172 | 1,027 | 836 | -192 | -18.7 |
| Wheat, oats, barley - total | 2,598 | 2,634 | 2,311 | -323 | -12.3 |
| Beans and peas | 20 | 69 | 71 | 1 | 1.9 |
| Oilseed rape | 34 | 40 | 34 | -6 | -14.5 |
| Potatoes | 383 | 360 | 352 | -8 | -2.3 |
This release presents final estimates of the area, yield and production of the main arable crops in 2016 together with the comparable estimates for 2014 and 2015. The June 2014 – June 2016 estimates for the area under crops shown in Table 1 have been obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Basic Payment Scheme.
The yield estimates are obtained from a joint survey conducted by Teagasc and the CSO.
Methodology
The yield figures are given on a “green” (as harvested) basis. The winter wheat yield refers to feed wheat. Similarly, the spring barley yield refers to feed barley. The oilseed rape yield is a weighted average of the winter and spring yield.
The bean and pea yield is the weighted average of pea and bean yield.
For potatoes, the early crop yield was applied to a proportion of the area under potatoes based on an estimate of the area sown under early potato varieties in each county. The main crop yield was applied to the remaining area.
The State yield figure is generally calculated by multiplying the area figure by the average yield figure at a county level and then aggregating to the State level. The State production figure is then calculated by multiplying the State area, as per the Basic Payment areas from DAFM, by the State yield figure.
As a result of rounding there may be slight discrepancies between the sum (or difference) of the constituent items and the total shown. Percentage changes have been calculated on actual figures.
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