wheat

The major commodity crops in the UK are wheat, barley, oilseed rape, field beans, sugar beet and potatoes, but around half of agricultural land grows grass.   

Table of areas and yields of major UK crops from Defra statistics.

Crop Area M ha Yield t/ha Production Mt
Wheat 1.8 7.9 14
Barley 1.2 6.1 7.4
Oilseed 0.5 3.3 1.6
Field Beans 0.17 3.5 0.6
Potatoes 0.14 45 5.5
Field Vegetables 0.5    

 

The vast majority of arable crops are annual, with seeds sown in autumn or spring and harvested in summer.  Crop choice and rotations differ with farming system, soil type, climate and market access, but most arable farms grow wheat as a main crop with other crops grown as breaks.

The growing of crops is supported by the agronomy supply industry, represented by AIC. Independent agronomists are represented by AICC.

Most crops have had a levy charged on their sale, either statutory or voluntary, which is used to support marketing, research and knowledge exchange for growers.  AHDB represents cereals and oilseeds, PGRO represents peas & beans and BBRO represents sugar beet.

Explore the Related Topics in the side bar, or add your own content, projects or questions below...

 

Related Organisations

Content below is from across the PEP community and is not necessarily endorsed by Stewards or by PEP

Connected Content

ADAS provides ideas, specialist knowledge and solutions to secure our food and enhance the environment. We understand food production and the challenges and opportunities faced by organisations operating in the natural environment

ADAS has the largest group of crop physiologists in the UK The ADAS crop physiology team focuses on improving performance and sustainability of cropping systems for food, feed and biofuel production.

YEN

Yield Enhancement Networks (YENs) were launched in 2012 to support and energise on-farm learning-by-sharing and thus to enhance farming progress.

We deliver transformational projects to drive productivity and boost farming and supply chain businesses. We want the industry to thrive in a rapidly changing world and continue to produce high quality food, maintain our beautiful landscape and leave a legacy for generations to come. 

Plants need around 12 essential mineral nutrients to grow: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg), Sulphur (S), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Boron (B) and Molybdenum (Mo).

Biostimulants are increasingly available and are now widely marketed to farmers. While the jury is still out on a definitive definition, most definitions of biostimulants explain that they should stimulate plant nutrition processes independently of the product’s nutrient content with the aim of improving one or more of the following characteristics: nutrient efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and/or quality.

Diseases infect susceptible plant hosts, where environmental conditions favor disease development. Infected crops achieve lower yields and the quality of the produce can also be affected.

Grass in farming is interconnected with livestock systems for their feed, in the form of grazing, haylage and silage, and is also used as 'leys' (short-term grasslands) to regenerate soil structure and quality.

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

AgriTech 4.0 focuses on supporting farms and farmers in providing them knowledge and assistance on the key aspects of the evolving technologies, processes, and practices being developed and used for sustainable farming.    

Intercropping is a method of planting two or more crops in close proximity to each other, either in alternate rows or in the same row. The goal of intercropping is to maximize the use of available space and resources, such as sunlight, water, and nutrients. It can also help to improve soil health and increase crop diversity, which can provide a range of benefits including increased resistance to pests and diseases, and a longer harvest season.

Share information, knowledge, resources and experience on how we can improve crop perfomance (yield, quality and profitability) whilst reducing reliance on input, reducing impacts and improving environmental performance.

Pioneering innovation, technology and precision engineering for UK farming. 

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

Oilseed Rape is the most widely grown break crop in the UK. The seed is crushed to produce vegetable oil and the remaining rapeseed meal is a high protein animal feed. 

Arable crops in the UK make up just under half of the farmed area (3.9M ha out of 9M ha)

Plant breeding is the science of adapting the genetics of plants to produce more desirable characteristics, in agriculture these typically include improved yield, in-field performance and end use quality.

Cover crops are grown primarily to ‘protect or improve’ soils between periods of regular crop production. They can be effective at improving soil functions by increasing soil nutrient and water retention, improving soil structure/quality, reducing the risk of soil erosion, surface run-off and diffuse pollution by providing soil cover and by managing weeds or soil-borne pests.  

Field beans (vicia faba) are a widely grown break crop across the UK on around 170,000 ha. 

Peas (pisum sativum) are grown either for combining dry seed (combining peas) or harvesting fresh as a vegetable or for freezing (vining peas).

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

Potatoes are an important UK crop grown over 140,000 ha producing 5.5 Million tonnes

Map of crop type for every field in the UK since 2016, produced by CEH & RSAC. 

Triticale is a cross between wheat and rye. It has been shown to be a high yielding relatively low input crop that can do well in second cereal and less fertile conditions, but its adoption is hampered by lack of a reliable consistent market.

Perennial biomass crops like miscanthus and short rotation coppice have the potential to meet energy demands as renewable fuels, helping to reduce GHG emissions and strive towards Net Zero.

The James Hutton Institute combines strengths in crops, soils and land use and environmental research, and makes a major contribution to the understanding of key global issues, such as food, energy and environmental security, and developing and promoting effective technological and management solutions to these.

Barley is the fourth most important cereal crop in the world, grown in more than 100 countries and used for animal feed, human food and the production of alcohol.

Once upon a time the UK had a clever, innovative thriving horticultural industry. Sales were local and to markets and shop in towns across the UK. We have lost this industry and all that is left are massive businesses on thousands of acres supplying supermarkets and very small scale growers.  

Cofund on Sustainable Crop Production from EU ERA-NET programme

Biofuels have been mandated in road fuel since 2008 to help reduce the fossil carbon emissions from petrol and diesel.  

AHDB Guide from 2021 incorporating WRAG guidelines. Weed control is vital for high yields of good-quality crops and to prevent the spread of pests and diseases, e.g. ergot. Yet with fewer active ingredients, a need to protect water and manage herbicide resistance, the weed challenge must be managed across the rotation.

Now in its 10th year, the CropTec show combines industry-leading exhibitors, the latest machinery and technology, networking and discussion opportunities as well as valuable updates on developments across the arable sector.    Tickets are free and available now by registering at www.croptecshow.com.

A global initiative led by Wageningen, University of Nebraska and others to estimate yield potential and yield gaps across the world.

This project is a Rothamsted funded project under the FarmInn initative, that considered th

Report by ADAS in 2009 for Government Chief Scientific Advisor John Beddington. Authore

Wheat is the mostly wide grown crop in the UK. Nationally yields average around 8 t/ha/

The Morley Agricultural Foundation is a charity that supports farming in the East of England by funding agricultural research, student studies, professional development of farmers and others and a variety of educational projects for school age children.

Crop canopy sensing – your virtual farm walk?

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

You need to measure to be able to manage. Yet most farms for most crops don't have a systematic approach to monitoring their crops through the season. This means we lose the opportunity to compare across fields, farms and years. There are now a suite of technologies to sense crops and the ability to share data across farms, providing the opportunity to learn what works on-farm.

The Leading Voice for the Agrisupply Industry The Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) is the agrisupply industry’s leading trade association.

We aim to provide sugar beet growers and wider industry with the resources required to grow a healthy and profitable sugar beet crop in the UK.

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

Podcast on all things crop production by Alice Dyer and the CropTec team

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

AHDB Guide published in 2018.

Linseed & flax (Linum usitatissimum) have been important crops for oil and for fibre.

Fibre can be produced from animal and crop agricultural products.  Hemp & flax are traditionally important fibre crops in the UK.   

A major reason for the predominant failure of translational research from laboratory to field is

Write whatever you want here - this is the main section. You can add links, add pictures and embed videos. To paste text from elsewhere use CTRL+Shift+V to paste without formatting. Add videos by selecting 'Full HTML' below, copying the 'embed html' from the source page (eg Youtube), clicking 'Source' above and pasting where you want the video to appear.
You can upload an image here. It can be jpg, jpeg, gif or png format.
Upload requirements

You can upload a file here, such as a pdf report, or MS Office documents, Excel spreadsheet or Powerpoint Slides.

Upload requirements
Authors Order
Add Authors here - you can only add them if they already exist on PEP. Just start writing their name then select to add it. To add multiple authors click the 'Add another item' button below.

Please ensure that you have proof-read your content. Pages are not edited further once submitted and will go live immediately.