Europe’s farm and co-operative representative bodies, Copa and Cogeca, indicate that total EU grain production is down 12.2%, or over 38m tonnes, in 2018.

Their consolidated estimates indicate that total grain production will barely reach 273m tonnes, compared with about 311m tonnes last year.

A Copa-Cogeca spokesman commented that many areas in the EU suffered severe droughts in 2018 and that there could be further consequences from this. The output figures included for Ireland indicate a 1.78m tonnes harvest output, which included forage maize.

These figures put 2018 EU maize production at 54.5m tonnes compared with 64.3m last year. This reduced output is partly due to lower yields in parts of the EU and the likelihood that a proportion of the crops will be cut for silage.

The forecasts put total 2018 EU oilseed production at 30.7m tonnes, compared with 33.5m tonnes last year. Again, there is a feeling that the drought in 2018 will spill over into 2019 output by impacting on germination and establishment levels in recently planted crops.

Production of protein crops is also expected to be down by around 1m tonnes on last year. The 2018 production is put at 4.35m tonnes compared with 5.23m last year. The drop is a result of a combination of reduced planted area and lower yield. Ireland’s output within these numbers is put at 24,500t in 2018, compared with 64,700t last year.