The harvest of dense-seeded cereals and rape was affected by radical increases in yields per hectare

The first estimates indicate a year-on-year increase in the harvest of dense-seeded cereals by more than a tenth. Hectare yields will significantly exceed last year's lower values affected by drought, but also 5-year averages of yield.

The total harvest of dense-seeded cereals should increase year-on-year by almost 320 000 tons and slightly exceed 3 million tons. The double-digit growth by 12% is mainly the result of significantly higher average yields per hectare, which should reach 5.47 tons per hectare. The total sown area of dens-seeded cereals is almost the same year-on-year. The harvest of oilseed rape should exceed by 10% last year values, up to 490 000 tons should be harvested with an expected yield of 3.28 tons per hectare. Spring weather affected fertility and the expected yields per hectare should significantly exceed the averages of the last 5 years¹⁾.

This follows from the first estimate of the yield processed by the Statistical Office of the SR on the basis of data surveyed as of 20 June 2023.

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The harvest of wheat will grow by double digits

The most frequently cultivated cereal in Slovakia, wheat, which represents three quarters of the dense-seeded cereal areas, is grown on an area of 406,000 hectares this year. It is only a slightly smaller area than was harvested last year. The average yield per hectare should reach 5.66 tons of wheat per hectare, which is significantly more than in 2022, when yields were just below 5 tons per hectare. It is also an 11% higher yield than the 5-year average. The total wheat harvest should thus record 2.3 million tons, i.e. by a quarter of a million tons of wheat more than last year. "It seems that significant impact on considerably higher hectare yields of all cereals will have notably better climatic conditions in April, but mostly May and June. Wheat and barley should have up to a double-digit increase in yield per hectare compared to the average of the previous five years," said Peter Danko, the Director of the Agricultural Statistics Department of the Statistical Office of the SR.

The total harvest of the second most cultivated dense-seeded cereal, barley, should reach 608 thousand tons, which is by 9% more than last year. This will be the result of a slightly larger sown area year-on-year, but also mainly higher yields per hectare. The average expected production of 5.35 tons of barley per hectare is by 0.25 tons higher than last year's value and at the same time by 0.55 tons above the five-year average.

In case of expected yields, this is the first estimate that will be adjusted according to the development of climatic conditions in follow-up estimates.

There will also be better production of oats, rye and rape

Higher yields are also expected for other cereals that, however, represent less than 6% of the areas of dense-seeded cereals. The sown area of rye increased significantly from 9.5 to almost 12 thousand hectares year-on-year, and its harvest should be up to 44,000 tons due to a slight increase in yields per hectare. It will be by a 38% higher yield than last year.

Farmers should also harvest oats up to 13% more, despite the fact that they sowed slightly smaller areas with this cereal. The oat harvest should exceed 27 thousand tons. A similar situation is expected for triticale, where under a slight extending of the sown area, the harvest will increase year-on-year by almost a fifth to the estimated 33,000 tons.

The estimated total yield of oilseed rape (winter and spring together) at the level of 487 thousand tons will exceed last year's values by 10%, and as a result of a slight increase in sown areas (by 4%), but mainly due to a higher hectare yield of 3.28 tons per hectare (an increase of 5%, year-on-year). This is by 0.25 tons more than the average of the last five years per each hectare.