Poor Cereal, Potato, 30-year record rye harvest forecast

The dry July lowered the outlook for the cereal harvest down to a normal level, according to Natural Resource Institute-Luke.

The potato harvest suffered from unusually cold nights in July. The outlook for the autumn harvest looks promising for winter cereals, that is, rye and wheat, said Luke in a press release.

The rye harvest is expected to be the largest in nearly 30 years.

“The estimated cereal harvest of 3.5 million tons corresponds with the average of the past five years. The cereal harvest will increase approximately one quarter from 2018 when the harvest level was the lowest in the 2000s”, said Anneli Partala, senior statistician at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

The dry July reduced the estimated oat harvest from the previous estimate prepared in the middle of July. There is expected to be significant variation in harvests, even between nearby fields. July was also coloured by unusually cold nights that damaged the potato harvest.

Even though the cultivation area of rye is the smallest of Finland’s four main cereals, its harvest plays a significant part in Finnish kitchens. The expected rye harvest of nearly 160,000 tons is enough to cover 18 months of domestic consumption. The last time the rye harvest was higher than this was in 1990. Rye accounts for approximately 5% of the total cereal harvest.

Of all cereals, barley has the largest cultivation area in Finland. The barley area has only been lower than this year twice during the past 40 years. The estimated barley harvest of nearly 1.5 million tons still accounts for over 40% of the total cereal harvest. The oat harvest is expected to be at an average level, at roughly one billion kilos.

The turnip rape and rapeseed harvest is expected to be the lowest in 40 years. The harvest of roughly 40,000 tons is less than one quarter of the record harvest in 2006. The cultivation area of turnip rape and rapeseed is the lowest since 1979, and the yield per hectare is low.

Potatoes have not yet been harvested, apart from early potatoes. The potato area has remained unchanged. However, cold nights in July damaged this autumn’s harvest. Their impact on yields will be identified during harvesting in September. The potato harvest is expected to be the third lowest during the past 30 years, approximately 550,000 tons.

The warm early summer accelerated the growth of grass crops before Midsummer, and the quality of the first silage feed harvest, and that of the dry hay harvest, was high. Grass growth stopped during the dry July, and the second harvest was low. Parts of grass crops will be harvested for the third time during autumn, and the harvest level is expected to be high in rainy areas.