AHDB’s Early Bird Survey has shown that favourable drilling conditions and strong prices have supported an increase in winter cropping, although high input costs may limit many further rises.
The winter oilseed rape area is set to increase for the first time since 2018, by 12.9%, however, the area increase may not be as great as that which was previously anticipated.
The intended UK wheat area is also set to rise for 2022, with a return to figures more in line with the data from 2019. 1.81 million more hectares will be used for wheat, which will see a higher than ten-year average area size, and year-on-year growth of the wheat cropping area by 1.3%.
The 2022 winter barley total cropping area is also up 2.8%, which is higher than the current five- and ten-year average, with 415,000 hectares being used for the winter crop.
Predictions for the 2022 arable fallow area are that there will be a 15% increase, to 306,000 hectares. This increase is believed to be linked to a move in domestic policy from direct payments, with less productive land potentially earmarked for environmental schemes, although another factor could be the rising input cost.
