The average spring barley yield for the 2019 season was 8.0t/ha (3.24t/ac) – an increase of 0.2t/ha on the previous record of 7.8t/ha, which was set in 2017.
The record yield was published in Teagasc’s harvest report for 2019, which was published this week.
This yield is significantly higher than the five-year average yield of 7.2t/ha and was reached in a year where barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) and disease levels were generally low.
According to Teagasc, moisture contents averaged 18.5% across spring barley crops and average KPH came in at 64.9 (as harvested).
The report put total cereal production at 2.2 million tonnes from an area of 261,000ha.
Average cereal crop yields
Winter wheat averaged a yield of 10.10t/ha, slightly higher than the five-year average of 10.04t/ha. Winter barley yields were mixed across the country, but still came in above last year.
According to Teagasc, winter oats recorded an average yield of 8.85t/ha – which is above the five-year average of 8.60t/ha.
Spring wheat averaged 8.30t/ha, while spring oats came in at 7.7t/ha. Both were above the five-year averages of 7.68t/ha (spring wheat) and 7.10t/ha (spring oats).
- Winter wheat – 10.10t/ha (4.08t/ac);
- Winter barley – 9.28t/ha (3.76t/ac);
- Winter oats – 8.85t/ha (2.58t/ac);
- Spring wheat – 8.30t/ha (3.36t/ac);
- Spring barley – 8.00t/ha (3.24t/ac);
- Spring oats – 7.70t/ha (3.12t/ac).
It should be noted that the average yields were calculated using crop area figures from the Department of Agriculture, which were then adjusted for utilisable area by Teagasc (area X 0.95).
The department is due to meet with representatives from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this week to discuss a ‘mix-up’ in crop area figures.
Last week, the department stated the information it released to AgriLand, which appears to be the same as that received by Teagasc, “provides the basis for crop hectares etc”.
Quality
The average moisture content across all cereal crops ranged from 18% to 19.5% – a sign of the broken weather at harvest no doubt.
KPH or hectolitre weights were good across the board. The table (below) shows the average moisture and hectolitre weights for all cereal crops.
Data source: Teagasc
Oilseed rape and beans
In the report, winter oilseed rape averaged 4.3t/ha at an average moisture content of 11%, while spring oilseed rape averaged 2.5t/ha at an average moisture content of 12%.
Spring beans yielded an average of 5.5t/ha at average moisture contents of 21%.
How is the average yield calculated?
Teagasc advisers across the country collect average yields (as harvested) from farmers and merchants.
The average yield (for each crop) in each individual county is calculated and the total production for each crop in each county is calculated – the average yield is multiplied by the area for that county.
For each individual crop, the total production from every county is added together and divided by the total area of that given crop in the country to get the national average.