A nationwide harvest survey has been launched to assess the impact of another year of volatility on arable crops.
A spokesman for the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that the 2018 growing season faced had been one of the most extreme in living memory – nudging close to that of 1976.
The late, cold winter followed by the prolonged dry spell has put a huge amount of stress onto crops.
Available online
As in previous years, the survey is available to complete online. Farmers who participated in the survey last year will receive an email directly from the NFU with a link to the 2018 survey.
NFU chief combinable crops adviser, Jack Watts, said: “Having timely insight into the size of the crop is becoming increasingly important and the NFU Harvest Survey traditionally provides the first insight, well ahead of the official estimates.
Without input from our members, we would be unable to underpin our key policy asks with evidence.
The deadline for returning final results for England and Wales is Sunday, September 23. However, contributions from those with earlier harvested crops are welcome as soon as available, as this data may be used to publish interim results.
When all data is available it will be revised and incorporated with Scotland’s crop survey for a UK harvest estimate.a
