The early harvest in 2022 looks to have encouraged more winter crops to be sown, according to final 'Early bird survey' from AHDB.

This confirmed a strong continuation of winter cropping for taking through to harvest 2023 and on a national level, all wheat, winter barley and oilseed rape areas have been forecast to increase for this harvest (see table).

Olivia Bonser, AHDB's market intelligence analyst, commented: “Winter oilseed rape is expected to climb again for harvest 2023, with an estimated year-on-year increase of 52,000 ha. High rapeseed prices encouraged drilling, despite cabbage stem flea beetle concerns, and the favourable autumn helped crops establish.

"However, the total area remains far below the historic high planted in 2012. The forecasted winter barley area is also well above the previous five-year average of 398,000 ha.”

The final EBS includes regional data for major crops – wheat, spring barley, winter barley, oats and oilseed rape.

Read more: Doug Niven's The Gleaner column: UK harvest 12% higher in 2022

Key regional findings include:

* Eastern England remains the largest wheat growing region, although it has seen a year-on-year decrease in plantings. Many other regions have increased their share of the crop, including relatively large percentage gains in Wales and Northern Ireland.

* Spring barley plantings are forecast to drop in almost all regions, except small increases in the East Midlands, and Yorkshire and The Humber regions.

* Despite decreases in Scotland, and the Yorkshire and The Humber regions, winter barley areas are forecast to increase in all other UK regions. This includes, potentially, the largest area of the crop in Eastern England since 2002.

* If realised, the 2023 oat crop area will be the smallest since 2017. At regional levels, there are large upward and downward percentage swings. This is a reflection, in part, of the relatively small oat area in comparison to other crops.

* The only EBS regions forecast to grow less OSR are Wales and Northern Ireland, with the Eastern England and East Midland regions remaining the dominant producers.

The AHDB Early Bird Survey is carried out each autumn to assess national cropping intentions and is undertaken by The Andersons Centre, with the help of the Association of Independent Crop Consultants (AICC) and other agronomists.

This year’s survey covered 502,000 ha and represents the intentions of farmers across the UK during a snapshot in time. Data was still being collected for the provisional results up until November 8, 2022.