Production of cereals increased year on year

In 2017, the area of utilised agricultural land in Estonia was 1,002,200 hectares, which is roughly the same as the year before. Of this, 993,000 hectares were in the possession of agricultural holdings and 9,200 hectares in kitchen gardens and agricultural households. In the latter, mainly fruit trees and berries, vegetables and potatoes are grown.

678,800 hectares of the utilised agricultural land was arable land, 316,300 hectares permanent grassland and 7,100 hectares was under permanent crops (fruit and berry orchards, nurseries and other permanent crops). The share of permanent grassland temporarily not used for production in utilised agricultural land was 6% in 2017, which is 2 percentage points more than in 2016. The area of arable land in 2017 was 2% smaller than in 2016.

The sown area of cereals decreased by 6% year on year, but the total production of cereals was smaller only in comparison with the record harvest in 2015, which amounted to 1,535,280 tonnes. 6% of the sown area of cereals – mainly spring cereals – were not harvested. The sown area of winter cereals was 14% larger than the year before, which, due to higher yield of winter cereals, considerably helped to increase the total production. The sown area of spring cereals decreased by 15% compared to 2016.

Cereals were grown on 330,700 hectares in 2017. The share of winter cereals in the sown area of cereals was 38%. Winter wheat accounted for 31%, rye for 4%, spring barley for 30% and spring wheat for 20% of the sown area of cereals. The remaining 15% were winter barley, triticale, oats, mixed grain and buckwheat. Compared to 2016, the sown area of winter wheat was 13% larger and the sown area of spring wheat 9% smaller. The sown area of rye increased by 8% year on year.

Compared to the preceding year, the production of cereals in 2017 was considerably higher, regardless of unfavourable weather conditions during the harvest period – 1,311,900 tonnes, i.e. an increase of 40%. Compared to the very large production of 2015, the production, however, was 15% smaller. Wheat accounted for 54%, barley for 32%, oats for 7% and rye for 4% of the total production of cereals. The remaining 3% were triticale, mixed grain and buckwheat combined.

Weather conditions and the proportion of winter cereals, which give better yields, have a substantial impact on the cereal production. The production of cereals in 2016 was low – in winter, 7% of winter cereals were destroyed and the weather conditions in the growing season were unfavourable. In 2017, winter crops had wintered well (winter damage amounted to only 1%) and weather conditions in the growing season were favourable. However, a significant share of spring crops was not harvested due to unfavourable weather conditions during the growing season.

The average yield of cereals in 2017 was 3,967 kilograms per hectare. Compared to the preceding year, it increased by nearly one and a half times and was 9% lower than the record yield in 2015. The yield of winter cereals increased by 63% year on year. The yield of rye increased by 50%, amounting to 3,932 kilograms per hectare, and the yield of winter wheat increased by 65%, totalling 4,699 kilograms per hectare.

The sown area of rape and turnip rape increased by 5% and that of winter rape and winter turnip rape by 37% compared to 2016. Unlike in 2016, the yield of winter rape and turnip rape exceeded that of spring rape and turnip rape. The production of rape and turnip rape seed was 165,300 tonnes from 73,800 hectares. The average yield was 2,240 kilograms per hectare. Compared to 2016, the average yield was 53% higher. The average yield of spring rape and turnip rape increased by 23% year on year and that of winter rape and turnip rape by 90%. The total production of rape and turnip rape was 61% higher than in 2016. 7% of the sown area of spring rape and turnip rape was not harvested.

The area of annual and multiannual forage crops as well as the area of permanent grassland for forage production were 4% smaller than in the preceding year. The area of permanent grassland for forage production decreased due to an increase in the area of permanent grassland temporarily not used. At the same time, the total area of permanent grassland increased by 3% compared to the preceding year (mainly because permanent grasslands were restored, due to which, the area of arable land decreased by approximately 8,000 hectares).

The growing area of potatoes decreased by 5% year on year. In 2017, potatoes were grown on 5,400 hectares, of which 36% in kitchen gardens and agricultural households. 91,200 tonnes of potatoes were harvested from the total area under potatoes. The average potato yield was 16,925 kilograms per hectare, which is 6% more than the year before. 12% of the growing area of potatoes was not harvested. In 2017, the production of potatoes per inhabitant was 69 kilograms – 1 kilogram more than in the preceding year.

The growing area of open-field vegetables increased by 10% year on year and was 3,400 hectares in 2017. 31% of open-field vegetables and as much as 91% of vegetables grown under glass are grown in kitchen gardens and agricultural households. The total production of vegetables was 5% smaller than the year before, amounting to 59,200 tonnes, of which 49,300 tonnes were open-field vegetables. In 2017, the production of vegetables was 45 kilograms per inhabitant (47 kg in 2016).

In 2017, the number of cattle increased by 1%, the number of dairy cows by 0.3% and the number of other cows by 3%. Therefore, the number of dairy cattle has increased somewhat after the fall that started in 2013 due to a crisis in milk prices. At the end of 2017, there were 250,900 cattle in Estonia, including 86,400 dairy cows and 28,700 other cows.

By the end of 2017, the number of pigs increased by 9% year on year. This was the first increase after the African swine fever crisis which hit in 2014. At the end of 2017, the number of pigs totalled 289,100. The number of sheep and goats decreased by 5% year on year. In total, the number of sheep and goats amounted to 85,900. The number of poultry increased by 7% year on year and totalled 2.3 million at the end of 2017.

At the end of 2017, the share of cattle in Estonia in the total number of cattle in the European Union (EU) countries was the same as in 2016 – 0.3%. Also the share of dairy cows and pigs remained the same (respectively 0.4% and 0.2%). In the EU as a whole, the number of cattle as well as the number of dairy cows decreased slightly in 2017, but in Estonia, an opposite trend was observed. Among the neighbouring countries, both the number of cattle and that of dairy cows declined year on year the most in Lithuania and less in Latvia and Finland. By the end of 2017, the total number of pigs increased in the EU as a whole and in Estonia. The number of pigs fell in Lithuania and Finland and a bit less also in Latvia.

In 2017, milk production in Estonia totalled 790,600 tonnes – 1% more than the year before. Milk yield per cow has been growing year by year and in 2017 amounted to 9,160 kilograms – 3% more than the year before. This is the highest ever yield per cow in Estonia, and with this result, Estonia placed second in the EU after Denmark. 600 kilograms of milk was produced per inhabitant, which is 6 kilograms more than in 2016.

In 2017, meat production amounted to 71,500 tonnes, 54% of which was pork, 29% poultry meat, 17% beef and 1% sheep and goat meat. The production decreased by 8% year on year. In 2017, meat production per inhabitant was 54 kilograms, which is 5 kilograms less than the year before. Even though the number of pigs increased by the end of 2017, the production of pork did not, as an increase in meat production takes almost a year after an increase in the number of animals.

Egg production increased by 4% year on year. 207 million eggs were produced in 2017. The average egg yield per hen in the agricultural holdings of legal persons totalled 289 eggs. Egg production per inhabitant amounted to 157 eggs, which was slightly more than in 2016 (151). Honey production amounted to 1,165 tonnes in 2017, which is 6% more than the year before.