Cereal and oilseed areas in England at 1 June 2025
Updated 28 August 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cereal-and-oilseed-rape-areas-in-england/cereal-and-oilseed-areas-in-england-at-1-june-2025
This release contains the estimates of cereal and oilseed crop areas on commercial agricultural holdings in England on 1 June 2025 from the June Survey of Agriculture. All other arable and horticultural crops areas will be published in September 2025 along with other areas of land use and ownership. The cereal and oilseed crop areas are final and will not be updated.
All results tables are available in the accompanying dataset, which is available at Cereal and Oilseed Areas in England at 1 June (dataset). The dataset contains estimates broken down by crop type and region from 1983 to 2025.
This year we have simplified the way we collect some of the crop area information through the June Survey of Agriculture. One key change is that we no longer collect oilseed rape broken down by winter and spring varieties, instead, this is now reported under the single category of oilseed rape. See section 2 for further details.
Key points
Cereals
- The total area of land in England used to grow cereal crops is 2.5 million hectares in 2025, an increase of 1.4% from 2024.
- The area of wheat in England increased by 8.8% to 1.5 million hectares in 2025, halting a two-year decline attributed to generally better weather conditions when planting in the autumn compared to the previous year.
- The total English barley area decreased by 13% between 2024 and 2025 to 742 thousand hectares. Winter and spring barley sown crops both saw a decrease, with winter barley falling by 7.2% to 302 thousand hectares and spring barley decreasing by 16% to 439 thousand hectares.
- The oats area in England increased by 9.4% to 162 thousand hectares in 2025 and is similar to the peak area recorded in 2020.
Oilseed rape
- The oilseed rape area decreased by 18% to 204 thousand hectares. This is the smallest area recorded since 1983 and continues the overall downward trend seen in the past decade.
Section 1 Detailed results
The area of land used to grow cereal crops was 2.5 million hectares in 2025. Although the wheat area has steadily decreased in the previous two years, in 2025 it has seen an increase of 8.8%. The total barley and oilseed rape areas in England both saw decreases of 13% and 18% respectively. Figure 1 shows the long-term trends for these key crop areas and highlights how changes in the wheat and barley areas are often closely interlinked.
Figure 1 - Area of wheat, barley and oilseed rape in England at 1 June (thousand hectares)
1.1 Cereals
Figure 2 shows a rise in the total cereal area of 1.4% between 2024 and 2025. This is largely driven by an 8.8% increase in the wheat area. This increase helped to offset the fall in winter barley which saw a decrease of 7.2%, the lowest it has been since 2020.
Figure 2 - Cereal areas in England at 1 June (thousand hectares)
| Year | wheat | winter barley | spring barley | oats | rye | other cereals | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,655 | 345 | 471 | 159 | 37 | 25 | 2,692 |
| 2022 | 1,668 | 372 | 410 | 140 | 40 | 19 | 2,649 |
| 2023 | 1,580 | 391 | 408 | 134 | 35 | 21 | 2,568 |
| 2024 | 1,402 | 325 | 524 | 148 | 30 | 20 | 2,450 |
| 2025 | 1,525 | 302 | 439 | 162 | 28 | 27 | 2,484 |
(1) other cereals are mixed grain and triticale
1.2 Wheat
The 2025 wheat area estimate for England is 1.5 million hectares, an increase of 8.8% compared to 2024 (Figure 1). This is the first increase in wheat area since 2022 but is still lower than the area recorded that year. The generally better weather conditions in autumn allowed drilling to proceed without major disruption and aided crop establishment.
All English regions saw an increase in wheat area. The largest proportional increase was in the North West region, which saw a rise of 12% (Figure 3). The Eastern region and the East Midlands together grow almost half of the wheat in the country, accounting for 28% and 20% of the total area respectively.
Figure 3 - Regional wheat areas in England at 1 June (thousand hectares)
| Region | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| North East | 56,827 | 61,857 |
| North West | 25,987 | 29,076 |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 192,137 | 213,390 |
| East Midlands | 269,392 | 298,109 |
| West Midlands | 135,910 | 149,070 |
| Eastern | 397,260 | 426,794 |
| South East & London | 189,088 | 201,014 |
| South West | 135,345 | 145,827 |
1.3 Barley
The total area of barley decreased by 13%, from 849 thousand hectares in 2024 to 742 thousand hectares in 2025. Winter barley fell by 7.2% to 302 thousand hectares. Wet weather in September impacted on the planting of winter barley and is the lowest area since 2020. Spring barley also saw a fall and decreased by 16% to 439 thousand hectares (Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Winter and spring barley areas in England at 1 June (thousand hectares)
| Year | winter | spring | total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 345 | 471 | 816 |
| 2022 | 372 | 410 | 782 |
| 2023 | 391 | 408 | 799 |
| 2024 | 325 | 524 | 849 |
| 2025 | 302 | 439 | 742 |
Figure 5 shows the regional barley figures. In 2025, all regions saw a fall in area. The South East region saw the largest proportional decrease of 15%. The Eastern region continues to account for almost a quarter of the total barley planted area.
Figure 5 - Regional barley areas in England at 1 June (thousand hectares)
| Region | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| North East | 38,292 | 33,733 |
| North West | 39,486 | 36,092 |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 127,163 | 112,770 |
| East Midlands | 145,701 | 123,699 |
| West Midlands | 57,277 | 52,537 |
| Eastern | 206,008 | 178,170 |
| South East & London | 105,520 | 89,278 |
| South West | 129,640 | 115,251 |
1.4 Oats
The area of oats in England increased by 9.4% from 148 thousand hectares in 2024 to 162 thousand hectares in 2025. This follows a decline in area in the last 4 years and is the highest it has been since its peak in 2020.
1.5 Minor cereals
The area of rye decreased by 8.6%, from 30 thousand hectares in 2024 to 28 thousand hectares in 2025.
The area of other cereals (mixed grain and triticale) in England increased by 34%, from 20 thousand hectares in 2024 to 27 thousand hectares in 2025 but only accounts for 1% of the total cereals area.
1.6 Cereal production
Initially, the 2025 harvest began quickly, the earliest for almost 20 years driven by a prolonged dry spring and warm summer temperatures but by late July, heavy rain disrupted the harvest and farmers struggled to resume hindered by intermittent heavy rainfall, making the harvest stop start in some regions.
Early indications show below average yields for winter wheat but winter barley and oilseed are more encouraging, although this varies regionally. Moisture levels and quality have been variable across crops with some reports of farmers cutting crops early at a higher moisture content to avoid any further harvest delays.
The first official Defra harvest estimates for cereals and oilseed production are expected to be published in October 2025, followed by the final UK results expected in December 2025. For further information go to our statistical announcements page.
1.7 Oilseed crops
The total area of oilseed rape decreased by 18% from 250 thousand hectares in 2024 to 204 thousand hectares in 2025. This continues the overall downward trend since the peak in 2012 and is the lowest area of land used for oilseed rape since the early 1980’s. Over the past decade, winter sown varieties have consistently made up 98% or more of the total area used to grow oilseed rape, as a result the area of oilseed rape has been collected as a single category from 2025 onwards.
Figure 6 - Regional oilseed rape areas in England at 1 June (thousand hectares)
| Region | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| North East | 15,085 | 12,256 |
| North West | 3,882 | 2,841 |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 38,334 | 32,018 |
| East Midlands | 47,277 | 35,829 |
| West Midlands | 30,199 | 23,992 |
| Eastern | 51,228 | 42,889 |
| South East & London | 35,544 | 29,811 |
| South West | 28,210 | 23,681 |
All regions in England saw decreases in the oilseed rape area (Figure 6). The largest proportional decreases were in the North West and East Midlands regions, 27% and 24% respectively.
The Eastern Region and East Midlands have the largest oilseed rape areas. Combined, these regions account for 39% of the total oilseed rape area in England.
The linseed sown area decreased by 24% whilst the area of borage saw a decrease of 1.4%, together these crops account for only a small proportion of oilseed crops.
Section 2 About these statistics
2.1 Survey methodology
Full details of the survey methodology are available on the Structure of the agricultural industry guidance web page.
The June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture has run predominantly online since 2011, with an option for farmers to complete a paper form if they prefer. The survey is annual and samples around 30,000 holdings most years, with a full census run once a decade. The last census was run in 2021.
The June 2025 survey was sent to a sample of 55,000 commercial holdings and responses were received from 27,000 holdings, representing a response rate of 51%. This is a larger sample than usual which will enable us to provide detailed geographical breakdowns later in the year and help to understand changes currently happening within the farming sector, e.g. changes in land use following the introduction of ELM schemes. Commercial holdings are defined as those with more than five hectares of agricultural land, one hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.
Table 1 provides details of the sample survey population broken down by farm size. The size of a farm is determined by its Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) which is the typical number of full-time workers required on the holding based on its activity.
Table 1: June 2025 population size and sampling rate
| Stratum | Description | Sampling rate (%) | Population size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SLR < 0.5 | 35% | 56,109 | |
| 2 | SLR >= 0.5 and < 1 | 55% | 13,020 | |
| 3 | SLR >= 1 and < 2 | 78% | 12,020 | |
| 4 | SLR >= 2 and < 3 | 78% | 5,652 | |
| 5 | SLR >= 3 and < 5 | 78% | 5,411 | |
| 6 | SLR >= 5 | 78% | 5,710 | |
| 10 | SLR unknown | 97% | 3,968 | |
| All | 52% | 101,890 |
For pig and poultry sectors, an additional data collection exercise was run to collect data from a central point for some of the largest companies. Cattle results are sourced from the Cattle Tracing System (CTS). The data include returns from all holdings with cattle so are not subject to survey error.
2.2 Data analysis
The data are subject to rigorous validation checks which identify inconsistencies within the data or large year-on-year changes. Any records that have not been cleaned by the results production stage are excluded from the analysis.
Population totals are estimated for each question on the survey to account for the non-sampled and non-responding holdings. This survey uses the technique known as ratio raising, in which the trend between the sample data and base data (previous year s data) is calculated for each stratum. The calculated ratio is then applied to the previous year s population data to give England level estimates. For holdings where we do not have base data (new holdings or long-term non-responders) the sample estimates are raised according to the inverse sampling fraction.
2.3 Confidence indicators
Confidence intervals and tick based indicators are shown alongside all of our estimated figures and can be found in the data tables within the dataset. These both help to show where there is more variability around results and highlight whether year-on-year changes are statistically significant or not. Whilst these are a useful indicator, they do not take into account any other sources of survey errors, such as non-response bias or administrative data errors.
2.4 Survey changes
Since the June 2024 Survey of Agriculture, we’ve made changes to how we collect some data, including simplifying the survey form and reducing the number of questions asked. Certain crops are now grouped together instead of being collected separately for example, stock feeding crops, oilseed rape, and maize. Consequently, we no longer split oilseed rape into winter and spring varieties. Instead, all figures are now shown under one category, oilseed rape.
2.5 Data notes
- All figures relate to commercial holdings apart from the cattle figures which relate to all holdings as these data are sourced from the Cattle Tracing Scheme.
- All percentage changes are based on unrounded figures.
- Totals may not necessarily agree with the sum of their components due to rounding.
2.6 Data uses and users
Results from the June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture have a wide range of uses and users with requests for data being made on a frequent basis. A document providing information of specific uses and users can be found on our guidance and notes.
2.7 Other survey results and publications
The next releases from the June Survey are expected to be in September. The definitive publication date will be announced on the research and statistics webpage on gov.uk.
More detailed results from the June Survey can be found on our Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June web page. This includes various time series of crop areas and livestock numbers dating back as early as 1866 and detailed geographical breakdowns of the results.
2.8 Feedback
We welcome feedback and any thoughts to improve the publication further. Please send any feedback to: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk.
Section 3 - What you need to know about this release
3.1 Contact details
Responsible statistician: Sarah Thompson
Team: Farming Statistics - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Email: farming-statistics@defra.gov.uk
Tel: 0300 060 0170
3.2 Accredited official statistics
Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. An explanation can be found on the Office for Statistics Regulation website.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2014. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled accredited official statistics .
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards (see contact details). Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:
- Reviewed and amended the validation checks carried out on response data including validation against new administrative data sources to better assure ourselves of the quality of the statistics.
- Enhanced trustworthiness by removing pre-release access.