Arable farmers in England and Wales still have time to complete the NFU's annual harvest survey, with the deadline set for the end of this month.
The union has again extended the deadline for its 2024 harvest survey following a 'remarkable' year of challenges faced by farmers and growers.
The NFU's annual survey, which now has a response deadline of 30 November, aims to help it build a strong evidence base of how the harvest has gone.
This year's data will be especially important following numerous challenges faced by growers, such as volatile weather and high input costs.
It follows recent estimates by Defra showing that England has suffered its second worst harvest on record after record breaking wet weather last winter.
Defra's figures, released last month, show that the wheat harvest is estimated to be 10m tonnes, or 21% down on 2023.
Winter barley is estimated to be 26% down on last year, while the oilseed rape harvest is estimated to be down 32%.
Farmers have seen months of wet weather and flooding, combined with high production costs, ongoing market volatility and reduced farm support.
But the NFU said it hoped the data collected would help it lobby for a 'stronger arable sector' following these 'remarkable' challenges.
Combinable crops board chair, Jamie Burrows said: "Given the challenges faced by growers this year, I want to ask for your support in our 2024 survey, and to stress just how important it is to gather this data.
“It means we will be able to evidence how this year’s perfect storm of increased input costs and weather have affected harvest.
"We will take this forward across our lobbying, laying bare the challenges to resilience in the combinable crops sector.”
Mr Burrows said farmers’ experiences were not only important on a national scale but also at a regional level, where variations would tell the story of the disparities across the UK.
“The more regional data we have, the more tailored we can be when taking this information back to MPs and officials and the more relevant a case we can make,” he added.
This survey will only take a few minutes to complete, and should be undertaken once harvest is finished to get the most accurate figures possible.
If harvest is not complete by the survey deadline, the NFU said farmers should provide the average yield realised on the area harvested to date.
The survey will close for responses on 30 November 2024, after being extended to allow more time.
Tips for completing the survey
The NFU has provided growers some points before completing the survey:
• Yield estimates should be based on dried samples. If this is not possible, adjust to give your best estimate of yield on a 14.5% (approx.) moisture content basis for cereals, 9% for oilseeds and 16% for proteins.
• Areas planted – record the same areas as you entered on your June Census return.
• All figures must be in metric units, (tonnes and hectares).
• To convert to hectares, multiply the area in acres by 0.405.
