Drastic fall in grain output

At just under two million tonnes, the 2023 harvest was down half a million tonnes on the previous year. 

That’s a 20 per cent reduction, with all crops below the five-year average. A reduction of 6.4 per cent on the area under cereals accounted for some of the output reduction. Weather, however, was the singular impact, stretching back to autumn 2022 when wet weather reduced winter sowing acreage, followed by an equally unfavourable period in March 2023, which delayed spring planting. With spring sowing pushed out into April and even May, a drought in June severely reduced the yield potential of those late-sown crops. Then, July was the wettest recorded across the country, with prolonged wet weather flattening cereal crops, followed by widespread weed infestation, making harvesting conditions even more challenging, when it was eventually possible to get combines into crops. Straw was scarce because of the reduced cereal area, lower yields, and poor-quality straw in lodged crops. Ultimately, there were crops that could not be harvested at all, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine introduced the Unharvested Crop Support Scheme last month with a payment of €1,000 per hectare being made available for up to 20 hectares of unharvested crops on farms.
One bright spot in this year’s report is the surge in winter oilseeds and spring beans grown. These high-value crops increased acreages by 41 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively, in 2023. Already, the recent wet weather has impacted 2024 crop prospects with autumn sowing down by thousands of hectares compared to previous years. If ground conditions improve, there may be opportunities to sow wheat and oats in the normally dormant December and January months.