The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has released the final estimate of UK 2025 cereal and oilseed harvest, painting a mixed picture of crop yields.
Initial good weather meant that the 2025 harvest progressed quickly, with many growers finishing ahead of a typical year, according to Defra.
However, in September, wet weather hindered the ability to harvest remaining crops towards the end of the season, resulting in a mixed picture across the UK with considerable variability in yield between regions.
Cereal, wheat and barley
All of the main cereal crops saw reduced yields in 2025 compared to 2024, except for winter barley.
Wheat and oats areas both increased from 2024, whereas both spring and winter barley fell.
The final estimate of the 2025 UK wheat harvest is 12 million tonnes, an increase of 7.3% on 2024.
This is due to a 9.1% increase in area to 1.7 million hectares, tempered by a 1.7% decrease in yield to 7.2t/ha.
The final estimate of the 2025 UK barley harvest is 6.4 million tonnes, a decrease of 10% on 2024.
Spring barley saw a 16% fall in production and a 5.4% fall in yield, whereas winter barley saw a 1.2% increase in production and a 7.2% increase in yield.
Oats, oilseed rape and straw harvesting
In 2025, oat production fell by 2.3% to 963,000ha. This is due to an increase in area (8.8% to 198,000ha) and a decrease in yield (10% to 4.9t/ha).
Oilseed rape production increased by 7.0% to 893,000t in 2025. A decrease in area of 18% was offset by a higher yield, up 30% from 2024 to 3.7t/ha.
Straw production varied across the main cereal crops and oilseed rape.
Wheat straw production is estimated to remain steady at 2.6 million tonnes.
Barley straw production, however, fell in 2025 by 24% to 1.3 million tonnes.
