2009 is the third good grain year in a row
2009 was the third consecutive good year for grain. Harvesting conditions were favourable and the total grain harvest amounted to 4.3 billion kg. Record crops of wheat (887 million kg) and barley (2,171 million kg) were harvested. The oat harvest (1,115 million kg) was good, but the rye harvest was small (42 million kg).

Larger amounts of feed grain are used green on livestock farms: as whole crop silage and fresh silage. About 6% of our grain was harvested green in 2009. The total harvest of whole crop silage and fresh silage amounted to 347 million kg, up 119 million kg on the previous year.

Second-largest rape and turnip rape harvest in history
The rape and turnip rape harvest, 140 million kg, was the second largest in Finland’s farming history. 2006 was a record-breaking year, with a harvest of 148 million kg. Yields per hectare of rape and turnip rape have been at a low ebb for a couple of decades, but once again reached early-1990s levels last summer. The yield per hectare of turnip rape was close to 1,700 kg and that of rape almost 2,000 kg.

Potato harvest up 10 per cent
The potato yield per hectare was good (28,610 kg/ha), boosting the total harvest to 755 million kg. Potato has been one of our most important statistically tracked field crops due to its significant value as a food plant. The largest potato crop ever recorded in the statistics was seen in 1948, when the potato crop (1,950 million kg) was larger than the grain harvest (1,319 million kg).

Average forage harvest
Prewilted silage is still gaining ground over fresh silage and in 2009 as much as about 86% of the silage harvest was prewilted. The total silage harvest has amounted to around 8 billion kg in three consecutive years. As the silage harvest has risen over the decades, the dry hay harvest has declined. The dry hay harvest in summer 2009 was 290 million kg, down 21% on the previous year. Never before has the dry hay harvest been this low.

Background
The Crop Production Statistics are based on information provided by farmers. The information was collected by telephone from approximately 5,600 farmers. The harvest area for field crops has been calculated by deducting the known area of crop failure from the cultivated area given by growers in their subsidy applications. In addition, cereals harvested green have been excluded.

For additional information, please contact:
Researcher Anneli Partala, tel. 020 77 21 376
Researcher Mirva Kokkinen, tel. 020 77 21 371
Head of Unit Esa Katajamäki, tel. 020 77 21 237
Tike, Statistical Services
The e-mail addresses are in the format: firstname.lastname@mmmtike.fi