Scottish growers are being urged to complete NFU Scotland’s (NFUS) harvest survey.
The union is running its annual harvest survey to gather details on the size and quality of this year’s crop.
The data gathered by NFUS will be shared with the Scottish and UK Governments and farming organisations, including the NFU in England and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), to help inform UK-wide harvest forecasts.
NFUS combinable crops committee chairman, Willie Thomson, encouraged growers to respond to the survey and said: “We need to know what is going on across Scotland, otherwise we rely on data from the major cereal growing areas of the UK, which doesn’t always best represent our members’ businesses.”
The union’s crops policy manager, David Michie, said the survey should be completed when harvest is finished, and growers will be asked to provide details on crop yields and areas.
He said: “This information helps us identify regional issues that could bubble up further down the line.
“The hot, dry summer in the west has forced some farm businesses to start feeding this year’s silage, which could make grain availability very regionally important this winter. The information provided by the survey will be incredibly valuable to our regional and wider policy team.”
The survey, which is available at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6NF6QFV, runs until September 26 and every grower who submits information will be put in a prize draw to win a bottle of whisky.
Reaping what you sow: Happy memories of historic harvest time in Aberdeenshire