Following on from the correction to the 2019 crop area figures by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released on Friday, December 6, AgriLand takes a closer look at the figures.

The crop area figures are now almost on a par with those released to AgriLand by the Department of Agriculture in October, although a slight change has occurred in the department’s figures for the barley area.

The department increased the area sown to barley by approximately 300ha, according to the table below. The department sent an updated file to the CSO on November 22.

Individual crop area changes from 2018 to 2019

The biggest increase in crop area came from winter barley, which rose by 42.8% or 24,800ha. On the other side of that coin, the area planted to spring barley decreased by 24.5% of 31,200ha.

The winter wheat area increased by 9.2%, or 5,000ha, while the spring wheat area increased by 6.1% (3,800ha).

The area planted to winter oats took a big jump due to ideal sowing conditions. 16,600ha of winter oats were planted, an increase of 63.1% (6,400ha). The spring oats area declined by 6.5% (500ha) but overall the area sown to oats was up by 33.4% (5,900ha).

*It should be noted that the CSO rounds off the figures to the nearest hundred.

AgriLand revealed anomaly in November

On November 14, AgriLand unveiled an anomaly in figures which it received from the Department of Agriculture and the CSO.

The CSO had reported that 245,000ha were planted to cereals in 2019. This figure was released in September. The department’s provisional figure sent to AgriLand in June was 259,329ha, while the department’s final figure, received by AgriLand in June, was 266,343ha (final).

CSO correction

On December 6, the CSO released a correction, which is also printed on its website.